


Trial and Error

by smileyjunior



Category: The Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28053993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smileyjunior/pseuds/smileyjunior
Summary: Holder and Linden catch a case which is eerily similar to a case that is currently being tried by the District Attorney’s office.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 5





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Updates for this one will be slow. I want to edit beforehand, and not after—where I end up reposting chapters twenty times 😆
> 
> And as always if anyone knows Veena Sud... please let me know, I just want to do these characters justice.

October 10, 2014  
Day 1

The alarm clock on the bedside table went off emitting a shrill beeping sound. Holder’s arm stretched out from underneath the down covers of his bed, blindly reaching out to the bedside table as he tried to silence the loud device.

A woman’s voice moaned from somewhere inside of the bed, “Mmm... turn it off,”

With a frustrated groan, Holder threw the covers off of himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed before he reached over and turned off the alarm. He rubbed his eyes and planted his hands on the bed as he leaned forward wanting nothing more then to go back to sleep. Caroline lifted the bed cover that was over her head, her hair flying in every direction as she did so, she looked at Holder with sleep heavy eyes, “You gonna stay?”

“Nah,” Holder stood up and turned around to look at his girlfriend, “I gotta go.” He leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead then headed to the bathroom to shower.

Stephen Holder was in a better place then he had been in years. Two years ago, he had walked out of the King County Sheriff’s Department with nothing but a box of his personal effects and into the Seattle Police Department where he met a hardass no-nonsense detective named Sarah Linden who would become the best damn partner he’d ever had. Right off the bat he’d been put on a murder case, the Rosie Larsen case, that just about nearly killed them both, but once they came out on the other side—it had all been worth it and they’d been partners ever since. He’d met Caroline Swift, an assistant district attorney, about six months after the Rosie Larsen case when he’d reached his first year of sobriety, and things were going well in their relationship as they’d been together a year now.

Holder stepped out of the shower and toweled off wrapping the towel around his hips, his mind on the work day ahead. He and Linden had wrapped another case yesterday, and there had been no phone call yet about another one. Going back into the bedroom he went over to his wardrobe and started to rifle through the drawers when Caroline came up from behind and wrapped her arms around him.

“I just got out of the shower, I’m all wet,” he smiled.

“That’s okay, I have to shower anyways.”

Holder turned around and put his hands around her back, “Wish I could stay here with you.”

She smiled as she looked up at him, “But then who would catch the bad guys?”

He huffed a laugh and planted a kiss on her lips before lowering his arms so she could head into the bathroom. Then he turned back around to his wardrobe and pulled out some boxers, jeans, socks, and a t-shirt. He put on the clothes, and left the room walking down the hallway to his kitchen. He made himself a bowl of cereal along with a pot of coffee, and by the time Caroline joined him in the kitchen there was a mug waiting for her as well.

“You got court today?” asked Holder as he leaned against the counter.

“Mmhmm,” Caroline nodded blowing on the steam from the mug. “All day today. The joys of being a D.A.”

“Yeah, yeah whatevs. You know you love it,” he was grinning at her slyly. “You get to grill them bad guys all day.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You jealous?”

“Hell no! You come right back here and grill me all you like!”

Caroline laughed and nodded, Holder smiled through a mouthful of cereal then turned and put his bowl in the sink. He wiped his hands on his pants, and then rubbed his hands together, “Aight, I gotta go. Don’t want Linden to do all the fun herself.” He grabbed his hoodie that was laying across the back of his armchair pulling it on, then went to the hall closet and pulled out his jacket, “I should be back ‘round normal time if we don’t get a case. But if we do...”

“I’ll probably see you in 2-3 weeks?” Caroline arched an eyebrow.

“Hey now, I’m pretty sure we do better then that.”

“Go get the bad guys Stephen.”

Holder kissed her on the lips and went out the door, privately thinking to himself that there was no bad guy.

——

If she had to be late, today was as good as any day. Sarah Linden was sitting in particularly heavy traffic as she waited to disembark from the Kittitas ferry from Vashon Island at the Fauntleroy Port. She figured the reason for the jam was they probably had a new employee trying to direct traffic and the guy must have just really fucked it up somehow.

It was a good thing that she wasn’t currently working an active case, because that would be an entirely different situation. Possibly involving her yelling quite bit and flashing her shield, and maybe, just maybe fingering her Glock. But that wasn’t the case, because they’d wrapped up a murder-suicide yesterday and hadn’t been called out to do anything else yet.

Someone honked at her from behind and Sarah had to fight the urge to flip the guy off. She rifled through her jacket pocket and retrieved a carton of cigarettes, withdrew one and lit it cherishing the rush of nicotine to her lungs. Opening the window just the slightest bit, some of the smoke escaped through the crack as cold air also creeped inside.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, so she stuck the smoke between her lips and fished out her phone. She flipped it open and took the cigarette in between two of her fingers blowing out the smoke before speaking in to the device, “Linden here.”

“ _Yo, Linden! Where you at?_ ” It was Holder.

“Stuck in traffic trying to get off of the ferry,” she responded before taking another hit of her cig. “You already at the station?”

“ _I sure am,_ ” he said rather proudly. “ _Can’t remember the last time I beat you here, might never have happened come to think of it. This is a historic day!_ ”

Sarah rolled her eyes, “Yeah congrats, look I’ll be there soon. Can you start the paperwork on the murder-suicide?”

“ _Yeah, yeah sure. Always mission’ out on the fun stuff aren’t ya?_ ”

The cars were finally starting to inch forward, “See you in a few,” she closed the phone and put the car in drive as she slowly drove ahead.

——

Vani Mohan sat behind her desk at work, and checked her cell phone for what was quite possibly the hundredth time just that morning in the space of about 10-minutes. Her boss was never late to work, and the fact that she hadn’t even heard from him was unsettling to say the least. She tried dialing out to see if he would answer the phone, but the line went straight to voicemail as it had been doing for the past 10-minutes.

——

The drive from the Fauntleroy terminal to Seattle Police Station was about 25 minutes on a good day as long as there was no traffic on 509. Sarah was vastly tempted to run the siren as she turned off of Olson onto the ramp to 509 finding herself in another slam of traffic. By the time she had taken the exit onto Alaskan Way towards Downtown, she had finished two more smokes and her patience was way past wearing thin.

When she finally pulled into the parking lot at the precinct, Linden climbed out of the car into the chilly morning air and headed inside the building. She went past the front desk in the lobby then wove her way through the cops that walked through the hallway until she finally made it to her and Holder’s office.

Holder was sitting at his desk filling out a report, but as soon as he heard her walk in he looked up, “‘Bout time you got here. I thought for real that you were leavin’ me to do all the fun stuff.”

“Hello to you too Holder,” Sarah pulled off her jacket and hung it up on the coat hook by the door. Where as Holder preferred his jacket and hoodie, Sarah wore a sweater every day. The one she wore today was a midnight blue with wide stripes of forest green and deep purple. She took out her phone from her jacket pocket and placed it on her desk. “What’ve you done so far?”

“Started on the paperwork for the case just like you asked,” he said indicating the stack of papers, “haven’t cleared the board yet though.”

She turned and saw the white board against the wall, covered in crime scene photos, victim and suspect I.D. pictures, and evidence reports. Sarah nodded, “Alright.” She walked forward and began to take down the crime scene pictures first stacking them all in one pile.

“You do anythin’ to celebrate last night?” asked Holder as he went back to work on the report.

“I went home and slept.”

He huffed and shook his head, “You gotta get out more.”

Sarah sent him a side-eyed glare but didn’t respond to his remark, “What about you? Do anything with the girlfriend?” She hadn’t met Caroline yet, but being the brilliant detective that she was, a week after they’d started dating, Linden had figured out there was a woman in his life.

Holder shook his head, “Nah we jus’ stayed in ya know? She’s been in court all week workin’ her ass off.”

“Oh yeah?” Sarah walked over to her desk and pulled out an empty manilla folder from inside a drawer. “She working a big case?”

“Yeah, some murder trial. I actually think it’s Reddick’s case,” Holder looked up his eyes squinting in concentration. Then he shrugged, “But I could be wrong.”

——

Felony crimes were tried in King County Superior Court which was located inside of the district courthouse in Downtown Seattle. Assistant District Attorney, Caroline Swift had prosecuted several cases since she had undertaken the position, and was very familiar with the layout of the building. Gripping her black leather briefcase in her right hand, the sound of her heels against the marble floor echoed to the high ceilings.

Caroline reached the atrium, with it’s circular and geometric floor design, and murals painted above the elevators. She pressed a button to call the elevator, then checked her watch for the time: 8:24 a.m. “Cutting it close today...” she spoke softly to herself.

The District Attorney’s office was currently in the middle of an exhausting murder trial that Caroline has the misfortune of prosecuting. The case was proving to be a bigger handful then anyone could have anticipated. The doors slid open and she stepped inside pressing the 3rd floor button hastily. She hadn’t heard from her co-counsel and only hoped that he was already upstairs and ready to go. Her foot started to tap impatiently against the ground, until finally the doors opened.

——

Sarah placed the pictures inside the folder, then picked up a black pen and labeled the folder. She went back to the board and started to take down the evidence reports. When she grabbed the eraser and took it to the board to wipe away the writing, the phone on her desk started to ring. She reached over and picked up the phone, “Linden.”

“ _Seattle Dispatch here, we have a reported homicide at the Fauntleroy Creek Ravine, your lieutenant says you and your partner the catching detectives. CS Units are en route._ ”

Linden nodded, “Alright, the ravine? Off of Fauntleroy Way?”

“ _Yes detective._ ”

“We’re on our way,” she put the phone back in the cradle and looked over at Holder.

He was already peeking up at her having overheard the conversation on the phone. “Don’t tell me...”

“We’re up.”

Holder threw his head back and groaned, “Once just once... I’d like to finish the report on the previous case before I have to start working on the next one.” He threw down his pen and stood up, “It’ll happen one day.”

“Suck it up,” Linden called back to him with one foot already out the door.

——

Going to Fauntleroy meant going back to where Sarah had driven from that morning. Luckily traffic wasn’t as bad driving to Fauntleroy as it had been to getting to Downtown. Fauntleroy Creek flowed through the park of the same name in West Seattle. From the creek in the park, it flowed all the way to Fauntleroy Cove into Puget Sound. Importantly, before reaching the Sound, Fauntleroy Creek let out at a ravine less then a mile from the cove.

Sarah had driven in her car with Holder in the passenger seat, they pulled up to Fauntleroy Way SW and parked behind the line of patrol cars, the CS Unit, and the coroner’s van. She and Holder got out of the car and walked along the walking path that ran north-south of the busy street to the small area which had an artsy cemented circle with a fenced in overlook that let visitors look down at the ravine below.

“Damn...” Holder muttered looking down at the ground, an design that looked like splashed water had been installed into the path along with different sized pebbles and rocks. “I ain’t never been here before. And that’s staining somethin’. Neat floor though.”

Sarah had gone to the fenced in overlook and looked down at the scene below; the body was easily visible, she could see the coroner crouching down by the victim, and the CSU’s taking various pictures. She nodded absentmindedly, “Alright, let’s go.”

The detectives walked around until they came to an unfenced part of the ravine, at which they carefully made their way down to the creek and scene below.

“Yo watch yourself!” Holder called when he saw Sarah nearly face plant into a tree after losing her balance.

“I got it,” she called back walking it off and hold up a hand to the cop who had come forward to help her.

Holder joined her at the bottom, giving a high five to the same patrolman who had kept his arm extending for him. “Yeah, yeah lil’ miss I don’t need nobody blah, blah, blah...”

“You wanna walk back to the station? Keep it up.”

He rolled his eyes but didn’t say thing back. Both of the detectives grabbed a pair of latex gloves from a CSU who offered them a box, then carefully stepping over the large branches and stones they made their way over to the coroner.

The coroner heard them approaching easily what with the noise they were making, and looked up as Sarah stepped right next to him. “Good morning detectives.”

Sarah gave a nod in greeting, “What have we got?”

He shifted so that she could take a better look at the victim, a middle aged man dressed in a very expensive looking business suit and tie, his hand still clutching a briefcase, and the lower half of his body was covered in blood.

“Yo, that’s a lotta red...” said Holder looking at the man lying partially in the water.

“Your victim’s name is Mark Burton,” said the coroner indicating the body. “Found an I.D. on him, already gave it to CSU. I can’t quite give you a time of death just yet, he was already partially in the water and that could affect the estimate. I’ll have to see if we can get it once I get him back to the theater.”

Linden crouch down and squinted at the blood on the victim, “Is the blood from a puncture wound?”

The coroner nodded, “It is, stab wound to the groin.”

Holder hissed instinctually and muttered a soft, “Damn...”

“Only one stab wound?” Sarah asked vaguely surprised. “That’s an awfully lot of blood I would think even for just one.”

“Killer hit the femoral artery, not hard to do when you aim for the groin,” explained the coroner.

Sarah nodded and looked over the victim once more, “Alright. Let us know when we can come see him. Thanks for the help.” She stood up and looked around, “Do you remember which CSU has the I.D.?”

“The guy with the glasses,” the coroner had gone back to the body and wasn’t even looking at her.

The detective pressed her lips together quite hard, several CSU’s were wearing glasses, so the coroner’s comment wasn’t very helpful. “Thanks,” she deadpanned before turning to Holder. There was an amusing glint in his eye, like he knew that she’d be put off by the coroner’s help. “The sooner we find the I.D. the sooner we can get out of here,” she said.

“Aight, let’s do some detecting detective, shall we?” Holder grinned, “Careful you don’t sprain your eyeballs rolling them that hard.”

——

Mark Burton lived in Wallingford a neighborhood in north central Seattle. Burton’s house was on a slightly elevated surface, with a garage on the left bottom of the house to a set of cement stairs on the right that led up to a small pathway to another set of stairs to a small patio with the blue front door of a 2-story cream white house. There were black accented windows, one wide one on the ground floor above the garage and two windows on the small 2nd story balcony above the garage.

Sarah pulled the car up to the front of the house, blocking the descending driveway. She looked up at the windows as she got out of the car.

Holder couldn’t help but notice, “You searching for somethin’?”

“Wondering if anyone is home,” she said quietly.

Without another word, she walked around the car and went up the stairs to the front door to ring the doorbell. Just as Holder caught up with her, the blue door opened inward revealing a tall blonde woman with green eyes and glasses wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Detective Linden, this Detective Holder,” she gestured back briefly, “we’re with Seattle P.D. we have this listed as the residence of Mark Burton?”

The woman nodded, “Yes he’s my husband, I’m Leah Burton. What’s this about?”

Sarah gestured to the house, “Could we possibly talk inside?”

Confused, Burton’s other half nodded and opened the door to admit the detectives into her home. They walked into a narrow hallways waiting for the blonde woman to lead them further into the home. She walked the detectives into a rather small living area just off of the hallway to the left with a white arm chair and matching couch in front of a glass coffee table.

“Can I get you anything or...?”

“No, thank you,” Sarah shook her head. “Mrs. Burton I’m very sorry to have to tell you this. Your husband, he was found dead this morning.”

“W-what?” The look on Leah face was one of pure shock, and as Sarah studied every inch of Mrs. Burton’s face she noted that at first appearance there didn’t seem to be any sign of deception.

“Why don’t you take a seat?” Holder stepped forward and helped the woman sit down on the arm chair she was standing in front of. “I’m real sorry but we gotta ask you some questions. We’ll try to make this go by as fast as possible.”

Sarah swallowed before darting her tongue out to wet her lips, “When was the last time you saw your husband Mrs. Burton?”

“This morning...” Leah croaked out, her gazed fixed on the floor. “He had to go into work... early,” her voice started to sound strained as though she was fighting back tears.

“What time was that?”

Leah looked up at the detectives, “6a.m. I think... it was early.”

“Where’d your husband work?” asked Holder, he had taken a seat on the couch and was leaning forward with a small writing pad and a pen in hand.

“His firm, he’s a lawyer.”

“Where at?”

“His firm? It’s in Downtown, Burton Law.”

As Holder wrote down the information Linden spoke again, “Had anything happened recently? Troubled clients, or any behavior that was unusual?”

“We don’t talk about his work,” Leah answered quietly. “I don’t know. I don’t...”

Sarah fought hard not to let out a sigh of frustration. “Mrs. Burton, would you consent to a search of your home? It would help us in our investigation.” The woman merely nodded, tears now welling in her eyes.

“There anyone you can call, or go be with?” ask Holder.

Leah slowly looked up at him, “No... or I guess our neighbor. He’s nice...”

“Why don’t you give her a call, ask if you can spend some time with her?”

She nodded and went to go get her phone. Sarah turned to her partner, “If he was a lawyer and didn’t want his wife to know the cases he was working on, it’s a safe bet that he could have been working with some dangerous clientele.”

“That or he was working on a case against someone who wanted payback,” Holder nodded in agreement. “Once she gets with her neighbor, let’s bounce yeah?”

“CSU can handle the search here, we’ll head to the firm before we go back to the precinct.”

“I’ll make the call to CSU,” he stood up and went to step out outside.

Leah walked back into the living room clutching her phone in her hand. “Tony is on his way over,” she said quietly.

Sarah saw that the woman was beginning to shake. “C’mon take a seat Mrs. Burton,” she helped the grieving woman sit down. “Can I get you anything?” Leah shook her head, her gaze was off in the distance unseeing.

Holder walked back into the room, “CSU is on the way.”

Sarah nodded and looked back at Leah, “Mrs. Burton, I’m sorry but I have to ask. Did you go anywhere after your husband left this morning?”

She shook her head slowly, “I slept in today.”

“Hello?” A man’s voice rang through the hallway, Holder looked at Linden and they both thought the same thing. The neighbor.

Holder walked to the hallway to find a rather tall, lean black man wearing a loud t-shirt and shorts. Holder couldn’t help himself, “Damn son, ain’t you cold?”

“I was in the middle of a work out when Leah called,” he explained. “Where is she?”

They walked into the living room, and Tony went over to kneel in front of Leah, “Hey girl, I’m so sorry.” Leah just simply nodded.

“Would it be possible for to take Mrs. Burton back to your place for the time being?” asked Linden. “We’re having Crime Scene Unit’s come over here and she can’t stay inside.”

“Yeah of course, c’mon let’s go.” Tony helped Leah to her feet slowly and started to guide her out of the house.

“Sir, what’s your name?” Sarah called after him.

“Anthony Nichols,” he called back and then they were gone.

Sarah and Holder exchanged a look with each other. He gestured towards the door, “Shall we?”

——

A steady rain was falling outside as Caroline headed back into the courthouse to find her co-counsel, a Hispanic man named Bruno Chavez, waiting for her just inside. “Good lunch?”

Caroline shrugged, “The usual, nerves make it impossible for me to taste whatever I’m forcing myself to ingest.”

They began to walk down the hall. “I thought the morning session went well,” said Bruno.

“They’re stalling,” Caroline shook her head, “at this point they're going to confuse the jury.”

“How do you mean?”

“His lawyer keeps bringing in these witnesses that have nothing to do with the case.”

“But if they didn’t have a valid chance of relating to the case, the judge never would have signed off on the subpoena.”

A small smile formed on her face, “Whose side are you on?”

Bruno smiled and gave a small shrug. After a moment he sobered up and turned to look at her, “Hung jury, you think?”

Caroline sighed, “I hope not.”

——

Downtown traffic was never easy to maneuver, and Sarah’s patience was beginning to run thin. It had begun to rain and it was getting close to noon, and the rumbles from Holder’s stomach were audible but she pretended no to hear them. They pulled into a parking garage near the firm, and walked outside into the cold rainy weather.

Burton Law was located in a 3-story brick building in between two high rises. The firm took up the 2nd floor, and there was no elevator so the detectives walked up the narrow staircase to a carpeted landing.

“Over there,” Sarah pointed to a brown door halfway down the hall.

As the detectives drew closer they could see a plaque on the wall that read “Burton Law”. Holder reached out for the door knob and turned it pushing the door open. Inside was a wide, long room with a door a on the left and right wall. Straight ahead was a desk and filing system in front of a tall regal looking window. The wallpaper on the walls was outdated, and the floors were beaten and scratched wood.

“Burton’s house was real nice lookin’,” said Holder as he looked around the room, “you’d think his offices might be a bit nicer.”

Before Sarah could respond, a woman came out of the door on the right. She had dark skin, jet black hair, brown eyes, and wore a black blouse with a light purple blazer and black dress pants. The woman seemed genuinely surprised to see the detectives. “Can I help you?”

Both detectives unclipped their badges from their belts and showed them to the woman as Sarah spoke, “Seattle P.D. who are you?”

“My name is Vani Mohan,” she replied. “You said you’re the police?”

“Detective Linden, this is my partner Detective Holder. What are you doing here Ms. Mohan?”

“I work here, I’m a paralegal.”

Sarah’s brows rose and she nodded slowly, “Ms. Mohan I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Mark Burton was found murdered this morning.”

“M-Mark?”

The detective dipped her head in acknowledgement. “We need to ask you a few questions.”

Vani nodded mutely and backed up towards the desk sitting on its edge. “I can’t believe this.”

“How long you’d work for Mr. Burton?” asked Holder.

“A few years... I started as an intern.”

“You help out with his cases at all?”

She looked up at him, “Not really no. I mostly reached out to people, put them in touch with Mr. Burton and stuff you know?”

Sarah cut in, “You know his clientele at all?”

“Yeah of course,” Vani nodded.

“Anyone stand out that you can think of? Anyone might want to cause your boss harm?”

Vani scowled, “You don’t even know what he did... do you?”

“Why don’t you tell us?”

The paralegal crossed her arms her scowl set in place, “Mr. Burton’s clients were people who had been wrongfully imprisoned.”

Sarah’s chin rose slowly, understanding. Holder however, his eyebrows contracted and his forehead scrunched, “How could y’a possibly know someone had been wrongfully imprisoned?”

“Mr. Burton always knew,” Vani’s head snapped to him. “Always, he did this for years. Mark was an incredible man, doing the work no one else would.”

“Was he working any cases currently?” Sarah asked eyeing Holder, a silent warning for him not to pursue the matter.

“A few, yes.”

“Would you mind giving us that information?”

For a moment it looked like Vani was going to say no, but her shoulders fell after a moment and she nodded. “Okay.”

“Great, thanks.” Sarah’s face was still neutral. “Where were you this morning?”

“I was here, Mr. Burton had some case prep to do so he was supposed to be here early.”

“Alright,” Sarah nodded. “If you could get us that information we’ll be out of your way.” Vani walked around the desk and opened a drawer retrieving a folder and handing it over. Sarah dipped her head, “We’ll be in touch.”

Then the detectives turned and headed back out of the office. As soon as the door was closed Holder rounded on his partner, “So what you think?”

Sarah pursed her lips, “I don’t know.”

“Ah, sure you do. I can see that Linden brain spinnin’ hard.” The detectives walked back down the stairs and into the cold rainy weather. They each got back into the car, Sarah reached for her carton of smokes and Holder’s eyes lit up, “Yo, can I bum one?”

I stead of giving him grief, she handed one over and lit it for him as well. They say in the car smoking in silence for a while until Sarah turned to Holder, “Let’s head back to the station.”

——

Holder and Linden made their way back to the the precinct and walked into their office. An evidence box laid on top of Sarah’s desk, and when she examined the contents she found that it was the crime scene reports and photographs as well as the evidence log.

Sarah pulled out the photographs and examined them closely. Holder had just swung off his coat and placed it on the back of his chair, he glanced over at her and jerked his chin up. “Whatcha got there?”

“Photos of the crime scene,” Sarah replied with out looking up at him.

“That the evidence?”

“Looks like it.”

Holder sidled over next to her and peered into the box, “Damn... there’s like nothin’ in here.”

Sarah glanced down and saw that he was right, inside the box was reports from the scene but no physical evidence. Her jaw locked up and she moved it to the side. “Alright, you get these photos up, I’m going to bring up background info on the wife and paralegal,” she handed him the folder of photos.

Sarah went to her desk and sat down in front of her computer to search on background information on Vani Mohan and Leah Burton. Holder had started to put the pictures up on the white board, and he went to retrieve another one from the folder he looked over at Linden, “You head from the coroner yet?”

“No,” she droned plainly. “Nothing yet, and I got nothing on the wife or the legal assistant.”

“That quick huh?”

“Squeaky clean,” she moved the mouse over to print their enlarged DMV photos. Sarah stood up and walked over to the printer retrieving the photos then pinned them to the upper right corner of the board, first Leah then Vani. She retrieved the dry erase marker from the tray at the bottom of the board and began to make bullet points under each I.D. picture, description of the individual, occupation/relationship to the victim and supposed alibi—they’d need to follow up once they had a specific time of death.

“I got an I.D. pic of our vic here,” said Holder pinning Mark Burton’s photo to the center of the board.

Linden nodded in affirmation, “Alright.”

Both of them stepped back and leaned against their respective desks. Neither of them spoke for a moment, they just stood there looking up at the board. When Holder glanced over he could see a deep dip in between Sarah’s eyes as she scowled at the board harder and harder.

He got it though. “So what we got, is basically just a clusterfuck of a butt-load of info.”

“Something like that, yeah.”

Holder crossed his arms and sighed, his head turned to check the time. “Gettin’ about that time.”

Sarah turned to him, “You leavin’?”

“Think so, got some ground to cover tomorrow ya know? Need my sleep.”

“Alright,” she shrugged, “see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t stay up too late Linden,” he pulled on his jacket.

“Go see your girlfriend Holder.”

“Ouch,” he placed a palm to his chest and stepped back, the grin on his face was unmistakable. Sarah hadn’t moved from her spot against the desk. He sighed, “Yo Linden.”  
She turned to look at him, “Don’t stay too late Aight?”

The corners of her mouth turned up in the slightest smile, and she gave a small nod. Holder bobbed his head and left the office while Sarah turned back to the board, pensive.

——

The judge’s gavel slammed onto the block, “Court is adjourned. We will reconvene Monday October 13 at 8:30 a.m.”

Caroline physically but her tongue, and reached down to put away the case papers, only to find that Bruno was already handling it. She looked up at him, and he gave her a small nod which she reciprocated feeling grateful.

——

The prisoner transport van pulled into Elliot Bay Penitentiary, 2 guards waited at the prisoner loading bay as the bus came to a stop. As the doors opened, the guards reached forward and pulled the man in the orange jumpsuit off of the transport.


	2. Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a hypocrite, I didn’t get to edit this chapter or the last one. My bad. Updates will still be slow, I want to do better, and the first two chapter need editing.

October 14, 2014  
Day 2

In previous years Sarah Linden had been known to throw herself into the cases she caught, running herself into the ground and working to the point of over exhaustion. But last night hadn’t been too late for her, about an hour and a half after Holder had left the precinct Sarah had gathered herself and headed back home to Vashon Island. 

The next morning, she sat in her car smoking a cigarette on the Issaquah ferry sailing into the Fauntleroy terminal. As the boat drew closer to land, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket and she retrieved it experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu. “Linden here.”

“This is the King County Coroner’s Office letting you know we’re ready for you to come in and examine your victim detective.”

“Alright,” she checked the time on the dashboard, “We should be there in about 30 minutes, thanks.” Sarah hung up and started to dial right away making an outgoing call.

“Yo, Linden. What’s hap’nin?”

“Coroner’s reader for us, I’m about 30 minutes out. Are you at the station yet?”

“No, but I can be. I’ll be ready boss, don’t you worry.”

“I never do,” she responded slightly amused. “See you soon.”

——

Caroline stood in Holder’s kitchen drinking a mug of coffee. One of the perks of her job working at the District Attorney’s Office was that her weekends were usually guaranteed to be free when she was actively working a court case. The courts weren’t open on the weekend, something Caroline was really grateful for especially with the case she was currently working.

Her phone started to ring in the counter and she reached over to answer it. “Hello?”

“Caroline...”

The A.D.A. could hear the distress in her co-counsel’s voice. “Bruno? What is it?”

Bruno sighed, “I guess you haven’t heard.”

“Heard what?”

“There’s been a, development,” Bruno said almost hesitantly.

——

Shane Reynolds had been working at Elliot Bay Penitentiary for nearly 6-months now. Long enough that he had worked out a regular routine for himself when he got into work: get through security, clock in, change in the locker room, then report to his supervisor. Today though, the routine changed slightly when his supervisor was waiting for him inside of the locker room. 

Supervisor Evan Henderson had been at Elliot Bay for 2-years. A pretty big guy, his black hair melted to grey as it went down the side of his head, and his thick dark eyebrows added to the intensity of his gaze. Henderson’s face had a soft quality, and at times Reynolds truly believed that Henderson was out of place working at a maximum security prison. But who was he to judge?

“Reynolds,” Henderson called as he stepped into the locker room.

Reynolds pulled on an undershirt, “Sir?” 

“Ward C today, one of your charge’s lawyers is here and asking for his client. So get to it.”

Reynolds fought the urge to let out a frustrated groan, “Got it.” He slammed his locker door shut and headed out of the room. 

Reynolds made his way through the security of the prison, walking through several cell gates before he finally made it to Ward C. “Up and at ‘em Tucker.”

Mitchell Tucker stood up from his bunk and slowly walked to the cell gate. His long brown-red hair looked unkempt, and his green eyes pierced through Reynolds’. He spoke in a deep bass voice, “To what do I owe the honor?”

“Your lawyer wants a word,” said Reynolds. “Turn around, hands behind your back.” Tucker looked at the guard for another beat before he slowly turned around to put his hands behind his back. Reynold secured his prisoner then yelled, “Open 5!”

With a loud clang the cell slid open and Reynolds led Tucker out of the Ward. They walked through at least 3 gates before reaching their destination. Reynolds brought Tucker to a meeting room, inside was a rather stout looking man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes behind a pair of thick black glasses who sat behind the table in the middle of the room.

When the guard and prisoner stepped inside, the man stood up and buttoned his jacket. Reynolds led Tucker to the seat opposite of the man, and helped him sit down before attaching his cuffs to the table. Once Tucker was secure Reynolds left without a word and the man sat back down.

“Reed, to what do I owe the pleasure?” asked Tucker a grin smile on his face.

“I have good news Mr. Tucker,” he said adjusting his glasses. 

“Do you now.”

“Day after tomorrow, we’re filing a motion for dismissal.”

The corner of Tucker’s mouth turned up, “On what grounds?” 

——

Holder had kept his word. As Sarah pulled into the station parking lot she found him leaning against his car smoking a cigarette.

“Took you long enough,” he gave her a teasing grin. 

She walked right past him not engaging in his banter, “C’mon Holder.” 

They headed inside the station but instead of going down the hallway around the front check-in desk, the detectives went to a stairwell off to the left. As they descended the stairs, the bright fluorescent lighting stayed the same but the walls were no longer the creamy yellow color that they were upstairs. Instead the colors became a blueish gray, giving their surroundings an eerie overall feel. As they reached the landing on the bottom there were no windows and the only source of light were the flickering bulbs above them. 

The detectives headed directly to the autopsy theatre where the coroner had clearly been expecting them. A bright light shone on the victim’s body, a white sheet just barely covering his genitals. The stab wound stood out like a sore thumb, jagged and horrifying in the groin just above the left leg.

The coroner gave Linden and Holder a tilt of the head in greeting, “Hello again you two. Thanks for coming by.”

“What do you have for us?” asked Sarah, always going straight to the business.

Thankfully, the coroner was used to this by now. “Time of death was 5-7 a.m. yesterday morning. I don’t believe he was killed down in the ravine, most likely ambushed somewhere above and then tossed down where he bled out.”

“Any idea what kind of weapon it was?”

“I made you a cast mold of the weapon,” he turned and went to a metal tray towards a desk in the back corner of the room. He came back over with an evidence bag of a resin mold of an intricate looking knife. The mold was about 7-inches of blade, the top of the weapon had a clip point straightening out to a ridged edge, and the bottom curved to a partially serrated edge.

“Damn...” Holder scrutinized the cast, “that’s real thin.”

“The weapon penetrated your victim’s femoral artery, he bled out in minutes.”

Sarah took the bag examining the cast for a moment before handing it off to Holder and looking back at the coroner. “Thanks, if you get anything else...”

“I’ll let you know.”

She nodded and turned back out of the theater heading back towards the stairs to the precinct. Holder caught up to her fairly quickly, “Think we can find out what kind of knife this is?”

“Maybe, we can see if the description of the blade matches any other cases.”

They ascended the stairs and reached the precinct’s landing, but something was off. There was even more activity then usual, and that was saying something for the Seattle Police Station. Around the lobby’s front desk was a huddled group of people, Sarah noticed their lieutenant, Carlson, breakaway from the group and head down the hall. 

One of the woman in that same group of people turned slightly and just happened to catch Holder’s eye, “Caroline?”

The woman looked up, “Stephen!” She gestured for him to join her. 

Holder looked at Sarah, whose eyebrows rose in amusement. His mouth opened slightly but no sound came out and the woman came over to the two detectives, her eyes met Sarah’s. A genuine white toothed smile spread across the stranger’s face, “Linden? You must be Linden,” she extended a hand for the detective to shake, “I’m Caroline Swift, I work in the D.A.’s office.”

Sarah grasped the hand out of professionalism but dropped it just as quickly. Caroline didn’t seem to mind, her attention now divided between the two detectives equally, “I’ve heard so much about you, it truly is a pleasure.” 

“I thought you had the day off?” asked Holder, his hands out his side.

“Linden, Holder!” The detectives glanced up as their names were called by Lieutenant Carlson, he beckoned them towards himself. “My office, now.”

Caroline nodded at Holder, “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said. 

Holder glanced down at Sarah with a shrug then the two of them made their way towards Carlson’s office down the hall. The lieutenant was standing behind his desk, hunched over with his hands formed into fists and holding the majority of his weight. As the detectives walked inside with puzzling looks Holder crossed his arm and jerked his head up in a greeting, “‘Sup loo?”” 

“There’s been a development with your case,” Carlson said plainly.

Linden’s eyebrows contracted, “What sort of development?” 

Carlson pushed off of his desk and stood up straight moving his hands to his hips. “I think it’s best if I let them explain,” he looked past the detectives and motioned for whoever was behind them to come inside. Sarah and Holder turned and saw Caroline enter the office with a tall hispanic man who closed the door as they entered. 

Caroline nodded her head in greeting, “Good morning detectives, first of all anything we discuss from here on out is confidential per the order of the District Attorney. We’re currently trying a murder case, that matches the M.O. of the case you caught this morning.”

Sarah’s eyebrows contracted in incredulity. “How do you know?”

The man spoke up, “The D.A.’s office received an anonymous call this morning about the killing.”

“You know who made the call?” Holder’s arms tightened against his chest.

“No, we don’t.” 

“Whoever it was claimed to be the killer,” Caroline supplied with a grim expression. “Of both murders.”

Holder blew out a breath and shook his head. Sarah’s eyes moved to the tall man, “Who are you?”

“Bruno Chavez, I’m Caroline’s co-counsel for the case.”

“Come Monday, there’s no doubt that the defendant’s lawyer has will ask for a dismissal,” Caroline continued.

“You think the judge will grant it?” Sarah asked.

“I think it’s a real possibility.”

Holder shifted his feet. “Who’s the doer you’re up against?” 

“Mitchell Tucker,” said Bruno as he handed over one of the folders he had been holding, Holder took and opened it, Linden read over his arm also. “Stabbed a lawyer in the groin 2-years ago, left the body in a creek.”

“Let me guess which one...” Holder eyed Linden then Caroline.

The A.D.A. nodded, “Fauntleroy Ravine.”

“Your investigation going forward will determine the outcome of whether or not the trial continues,” said Carlson. 

Holder tilted his head, “No pressure then, right?” The lieutenant scowled at him, “It was a joke yo.”

“Let’s take this into our office, shall we?” said Sarah sending Holder a look which he couldn’t interpret.

——

Leah Burton sat on a plush futon is bright white room that was tastefully decorated with some art pieces and plants. A blanket laid over her legs, and a pile of used tissues sat next to her as she leaned back against the pillows. There were footsteps outside of the door shortly before a small knock came, and her neighbor walked in.

Tony gave her a kind smile, “Hi sweetie.” As he walked further into the room he noticed her red nose and puffy red eyes, nonetheless she tried to give him a grateful smile. Tony sat on the edge of the futon at her feet, “How are you?”

“I’m fine really,” Leah waved a hand, “I can be out of your hair today.”

“There’s no rush! Greg and I talked it over, and we’d actually prefer if you’d spend some more time here just for a little while.” At the hesitant look on her face, he leaned forward, “You shouldn’t be alone right now. Let us help, okay?”

Tears started to form in her eyes, “I have to go identify him today... I just got a call...”

“Oh honey,” Tony went to her side and hugged her, Leah gripped his arms firmly and placed her head into his chest. “Did they say when?”

“J-just as soon a-as possible,” she was beginning to sob, Tony rubbed her back gently.

“I’ll go with you, okay? It’s going to be alright.” 

——

Bruno and Caroline glanced at the whiteboard in the office that Holder and Sarah had set up the previous day. Bruno stepped up and opened up his own case file taking out a picture from the original crime scene and holding it up to the board.

Sarah tilted her head to take a look and saw the picture on Bruno’s was of the first victim’s body. “Nearly identical,” said Sarah walking just behind Bruno to get a closer look at the picture.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” he said.

Holder leaned against his desk and crossed his arms, “Who was the victim?”

“Helen White,” Caroline supplied, “killed September 9th, 2012.”

“Female?”

She nodded, “She was a public defender.”

“Any relationship to Tucker?” asked Sarah her eyes still glued to the board.

“Actually yes,” Bruno pulled out another sheet of paper from his folder and gave it to the detective. “Helen White represented Mitchell Tucker on an assault charge back in 2011.” Sarah’s eyes roved over the paper taking in all the information. “You have copies of all of this in the folder I gave Detective Holder.”

“Alright,” Linden’s mouth scrunched up as her lips pressed hard together, “we’ll go over all of this, compare it to the recent case, and if we have any questions we’ll be in touch.” She handed Bruno the papers.

Caroline turned to Sarah, “Call us if you need anything.”

Sarah dipped her head in acknowledgement, “Thanks.”

Holder held the door open for Bruno and Caroline. Sarah didn’t miss the look that her partner and the A.D.A. exchanged with one another before the door swung shut. 

“Aight,” Holder turned back around and placed the folder on the desk, “whatchu wanna do first?”

“Let’s get another board in here,” Sarah pointed next to the whiteboard, “get the photos and reports from the White murder up.”

Holder bobbed his head, “Be right back.” He turned and opened the office door again heading out the door. 

Sarah moved to the whiteboard and pushed it to the left to make room for the second board, then she opened the folder and began to organize the contents. Holder wheeled in a second board and placed it next to the first one. 

“Let’s get the information up,” said Linden. “Photos, reports...”

“Got it.”

As they got the pictures up on the board, it became even more clear how very similar the crime scenes were. Helen White’s body was laid out almost exactly like Mark Burton’s, the stab wound was almost if not exactly identical.

“Stab wound is in the same place too...” Sarah thought out loud looking between the two boards.

Holder pinned up a report, “Says here she was single and lived alone. Estranged from family, they had to call in her step-moms in Alaska to I.D. her.”

“Have you found anything about the 2011 assault charge?” asked Sarah.

“Gimme a sec,” he rifled through the diminishing pile of papers, “got it. Mitchell Tucker was charged with assault after stabbin’ some guy in a bar fight.”

She whirled around, “Assault? Not with a deadly weapon, for a stabbing?”

He shrugged, “Guess not. She got him off though, case was dismissed.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope,” he handed her the file which she read greedily. An audible breath came out of her nose, “What about Burton? We haven’t looked at that folder of his cases yet.”

“Around here somewhere...” their desks were really piling up at the moment it was a wonder Holder was able to pull it out at all. “Got it, damn home boy was doin’ a lot.”

“Like what?” Sarah stepped up next to Holder to read the information inside of the folder.

“Tryin’ to right some wrongs I guess... he had like, 10 pending cases.”

Sarah’s eyes went over the paper, “Doesn’t look like he was actively working one though.”

“I thought the paralegal said he was? Workin’ one, I mean.”

Her hand was flat against the desk, finger tapping anxiously against the surface. “Maybe there’s information missing.”

“What like Vani didn’t give us everything?”

She shrugged, “It’s possible. She seemed quite protective of him.”

Holder huffed a laugh in amusement, “Yeah I noticed.”

Sarah looked back at the board with a deep look of concentration, “Let’s take this in chunks. Start with the White murder, move on to Burton. Make sure we don’t miss anything.”

Holder blew out a breath from his puffed out cheeks, “Gonna be a long ass night.” 

——

Vani sat in the Burton Law offices, sitting behind her desk with a bottle of bourbon in hand. There were drying tear tracks on her face, and her eyes were red. As she raised the bottle to her lips, there was a sharp knock at the door. The paralegal rolled her eyes and  
Slammed the bottle down, “We’re closed!”

The door opened, and in walked a small woman with straight black hair and piercing blue eyes behind a pair of glasses. The woman wore a white blouse under a winter coat, a pair of dark blue jeans, and black boots with a small purse on her shoulder. She didn’t seem deterred by Vani’s dismissal, on the contrary she walked right up to the paralegal’s desk with a small smile on her face.

Vani scowled at the intruder, and made no move to hide her alcohol. “We are closed,” she emphasized again.

“I’m so sorry to bother you,” the woman said in a soft voice, “my name is Caitlin Gardner, I’m here on behalf of my fiancé. Mr. Burton was considering working his case and I wanted to check on the status.”

The paralegal’s eyes began to well up with tears again, “Mr. Burton is no longer working.”

Confused, Caitlin’s eyebrows contracted and she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“He’s dead,” Vani spat out. “Killed, dead.”

“Oh my goodness!” Caitlin raised a hand to her mouth horrified. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. When did it happen?”

Vani let out a sob, “Yesterday...”

Caitlin went around the desk a rubbed a hand on Vani’s back in an effort to comfort her. Vani leaned into the touch, and Caitlin sneakily removed the bottle from her grasp. “He seemed like a good man,” said Caitlin as she put the bottle out of sight. “Did you work work with him long?”

“A few years,” Vani sat up sniffing and rubbed her eyes, “he was a good man.”

Caitlin bit her lip as she looked at the grieving paralegal. After a moment she spoke, “Listen I know you don’t know me, but why don’t I take you out for dinner? You can tell me all about him?”

Vani looked at the stranger for a few beats of silence, before bobbing her head up and down. “Alright.”

——

A knock on the office door had both Linden and Holder’s heads snapping up quickly. The police tech Ray was standing in the doorway, a look of apprehension on his face. 

“‘Sup Ray?” asked Holder, his chin jerking up.

“Hey um, there’s a Leah Burton here who wants to speak to you.”

The two detectives exchanged looks. “I’ll go,” said Sarah walking to the door.

“So I’ll just keep at it then, yeah?” Holder called after her, but she was already gone. 

Ray walked in stride with Sarah, “She’s in the lobby.”

“Thanks Ray, I got it from here.” He nodded and went back to his office. As Sarah rounded the corner, she saw that Leah Burton stood out like a sore thumb. The tall blonde woman was pacing by her neighbor from yesterday, who seemed to be trying to calm her down. Anthony saw Sarah first and tapped Leah on the shoulder to make her aware of the detective’s presence. 

When Leah saw Sarah she walked right up to the detective, “Detective may I speak with you?”

Sarah sighed inaudibly, fairly certain she knew what this was concerning, and knowing she had a lot of work to do. “Certainly,” she said hiding her animosity, “please follow me.” She spun on her heel and turned to go back down the hall. 

Linden walked to the conference room, a room in the precinct usually reserved for victims or victim’s family. The room had a stand with pamphlets and brochures about victim support and community resources. There was a small love seat against the wall, as well as a small round table in the middle of the room with several chairs around it. A collection of cabinets held some evidence collection and first aid supplies and coloring books. Sarah gestured for her to go inside Anthony right behind her.

“I’ll just wait out here,” said Anthony motioning just outside the door. Leah nodded her thanks.

“You can take a seat,” Sarah said to the widow, pulling out a chair from the table to sit in herself. Once Leah was situated, Sarah raised her eyebrows expectantly. “What can I do for you?”

Leah shifted in her seat and rubbed her hands together, “I just came from downstairs...”

Sarah pursed her lips and dipped her head in understanding. Leah took in a shaky breath before continuing, “I wanted to ask... if you’ve found anything? Anything at all?” 

Sarah fought the urge to sigh, “Mrs. Burton...”

Leah cut her off, “I’ve gone over it in my head half a dozen times Detective. And it just doesn’t make any sense. Mark was a good man, he devoted his life to helping others... who could do this?”

Sarah pressed her lips together for a moment, “I’m sorry Mrs. Burton. I don’t have anything to tell you right now, but I can assure you you will be the first to know.”

Tears fell down the widow’s face, but she closed her lips tightly, closed her eyes and nodded. Sarah looked to the door and saw that Anthony had actually been listening, and had come to collect Leah. He helped her to her feet, and Sarah stood with her, but didn’t move until the two of them were out of sight down the hall. Then she went back to the office.

——

Vani and Caitlin sat in a diner, both of them laughing over greasy food and milkshakes. Vani telling stories about Mark Burton, she seemed to have sobered up.

——

Mitchell Tucker laid on the bed in his cell, his arms behind his head and one leg crossed on the other—he had an unreadable expression on his face.

——

Holder picked up a folder and opened it his eyes growing wide, “Linden...”

Sarah came over and looked at what Holder had seen. She looked up at him, “We have our connection.”


	3. Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m actually quite scared I’m losing my touch and this may be my worst story yet.
> 
> If you know Veena Sud let me know, I just want to do these characters justice—and stay in character.

October 15, 2014  
Day 3

As she woke up, Sarah registered that she was in an upright position lying back, her neck at an awkward angle. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was still in the office at the precinct and quick look at the clock told her the time was 7:57 a.m. With an inward groan she realized she fell asleep working.

She sat up and moved her head around in an attempt to loosen up the stiff muscles that had locked up in her neck, when she saw Holder right across from her asleep in his chair as well. He had taken off his jacket and was using it as a blanket, which made Sarah think that he made the choice to stay here, whereas she didn’t even remember falling asleep. 

Linden stood up and stretched moving over to the boards again, and looking between the two. Last night they had found paperwork that Vani had given them from Burton and Law that one of the pending cases Mark Burton was considering taking on was Mitchell Tucker’s. The case file had been rather sparse, but the information was enough to reach that conclusion. But Tucker obviously hadn’t killed Burton from a maximum security prison... so he couldn’t be the killer. Yet still her gut told her the connection couldn’t be entirely coincidental.

Tomorrow was Monday and the courts would be back in session, so if they didn’t find something incriminating against Tucker the case would most likely be dismissed. The D.A.’s office seemed pretty sure of his guilt, but there was no possible way the exact murder weapon could be used in another murder if the killer was in prison. Sarah let out a soft groan and put her head in her hands. 

Holder shifted behind her and let out a groan as well before asking in a croaky voice, “What time is it?” 

She blew out a breath, “8 o’clock.”

He put his jacket down onto the desk and stood up and stretched, “You look troubled Linden.”

“Do I?” She wasn’t in the mood for antics, there was too much riding on them.

Holder seemed to understand because he didn’t push it and instead went straight to business, “What you wanna do?”

She bit her lip, “I think... we need to go to the prison.”

“Yeah?”

“Now,” she turned to face him. “We need to go now.”

He sighed and reached for his jacket, “Aight, I’ll call the warden on the way over.”

——

Vani opened her eyes and found herself in a strangers room. She didn’t recognize the surroundings at all, and sat up quickly only to have a sharp pain ring through her head. Her hand reached up and she held her head letting out a soft hiss, trying to remember what happened. It didn’t take too long to put things together.

Hungover.

As the pain ebbed away, she looked around. She seemed to be in a living room, lying on a soft and plush maroon couch covered in a brown blanket. There were a few art pieces hanging on the walls, all colorful abstract shapes, and there was a television was in the corner along with a coffee table.

“Good morning.”

Vani turned and saw the woman, Caitlin, from yesterday. “Oh... good morning.”

“I’m sorry,” said Caitlin her cheeks turning pink, “you crashed last night and I didn’t know where you lived. So I just took you back to my place.

“Oh,” now Vani was blushing, “it’s fine. I really appreciate it, thank-you.”

Caitlin shook her head, “It’s no problem, girls gotta stick up for each other, right?”

Vani smiled weakly, “Yeah I guess.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment. “Can I get you something to drink?” asked Caitlin. 

“Oh no, it’s fine. I should probably...”

“It’s no bother, really!” Caitlin said with a kind smile. “I don’t mind at all really. I have a freezer full of Eggo Waffles too if you’re interested.”

Vani thought for a moment, the woman’s offer did seem genuine. “If you’re sure it’s no bother, I wouldn’t say no to a waffle.”

Caitlin’s smile widened, “Of course. Come inside the kitchen.” 

——

Sarah pulled into the visitor’s parking lot at Elliot Bay Penitentiary, putting the car into park and shutting off the engine. Holder looked over at Linden whose eyes were fixed on the iron-clad building behind the barbed wire gates. “You ready?”

She turned to him and gave him a curt nod, “Let’s go.”

The detectives both climbed out of the car, Sarah gripped a case file tightly in her hand. They made their way to the entrance. At the first checkpoint both of them showed their badges and were waved through. Then they went through security, taking their guns out of their holsters and any other metal they wore in addition to their shoes. Both of them walked through the metal detector before the guards used metal wand detectors and moved them over their bodies before they cleared the detectives for entry. 

Because it was the two of them, the prison guard led them to a family room. Three chairs were placed in the center of the room around a table built into the ground with an iron ring underneath the surface on the left side. Holder and Sarah took the seats on the right side of the table and waited. Holder was leaning back, his legs spread and his hands in his pockets. 

After 10-minutes his leg began to bounce and Sarah sent him a glare, “Could you stop?”

He sucked his teeth and stood up abruptly. “The hell is taking so long?”

Sarah just pursed her lips and shook her head. “It’s a prison Holder.”

Finally, the door opened and two guards led Mitchell Tucker inside in transportation cuffs around his hands and ankles, the chains connected. The man’s reddish-brown hair hung in front of his face leaving his green eyes barely visible. As he was led closer to the table his head lifted to see the two detectives, the look on his face inquisitive to say the least. The guards sat their prisoner down and attached his chains to the table, then stepped back and stood against the wall. 

Sarah didn’t waste any time, “Mr. Tucker my name is Detective Linden I’m a homicide detective with Seattle P.D.”

Tucker’s eyebrows rose, “Linden?”

“Yeah and I’m Holder,” her partner chimed in. “We gotta few questions we wanna ask you.”

The prisoner turned his head slowly to Holder, his eyes leaving Sarah’s at the last minute. “Questions... like what?”

Sarah opened the file and put out a picture of the Burton murder crime scene. “3 days ago, a body was found in Fauntleroy Ravine, the victim had been stabbed in the groin.” Her finger tapped the photo, and Tucker looked down at the image. “Sound similar?”

Tucker looked back up, “Well, I’ve always said I was innocent. This should help my case.”

“You got connections with each victim,” said Holder.

“Do I?” Tucker gestured to the picture, “Who is this then?”

“His name is Mark Burton, he’s a lawyer,” Sarah studied Tucker’s face as she said this. “We have records that show he was looking into taking your case.”

“That’s too bad,” Tucker sat back looking dejected, “I had hoped Mr. Burton would help prove my innocence.”

Holder leaned forward, “You see the problem here, right? 2 different people you know end up dead they same way, both of ‘em lawyers. Hell of a coincidence,” 

“But that’s all it is,” Tucker’s attention turned on Holder, “a coincidence.”

“You never provided an alibi for the first murder,” Sarah said her eyes squinting. “Why?”

Tucker slowly turned his head towards her, “I know who you are, Linden.”

“Yeah, no shit she told you,” said Holder beginning to feel exasperated.

The prisoner ignored him, “Linden... Sarah Linden, isn’t that right?” 

Sarah sat up but kept her face neutral. She felt Holder’s eyes turn on her. “Have we met?” 

A small smile came across Tucker’s face, “I knew Ray Seward.”

The color drained from her face. After a beat she nodded slowly, “Alright.” She began to gather the papers and photographs.

“What are ya doin’?” Holder looked at her completely baffled.

Sarah stood up, but that didn’t deter the man on the other side of the table. “You let him die... you knew that he was innocent and you let him die. I remember the day he went to the gallows... he spoke about you, admittedly not for the first time. But he said that you knew he was innocent.”

“We’re done here,” she turned around and went to the door.

Holder sprang from his seat and ran up behind her, “Linden...?”

“Don’t,” she snapped.

“Running from the truth won’t help you detective,” Tucker called from behind her just as the guard came to the door to unlock it. “Believe me, I would know.”

Linden didn’t look back at him and just bulldozed her way out of the room, then out of the prison. Holder had to pick up the pace to catch up with her, she was unlocking the car and getting inside just as he hit the pavement of the parking lot.

“Yo, Linden! Don’t leave me here now!” His words seemed to get through to her and she froze in her action, taking big gulps of air. He caught up to her, and let his eyes take in her state of being. She was rattled, that much was obvious—and she wanted to run, he could see in her eyes. But there was something else there too... “Hey, talk to me.”

“Just let it go.”

Instead of backing down Holder shook his head a hint of annoyance in his voice, “I can’t, you know I can’t. We gotta solve this case and that man in there might be the key to doin’ it so you gotta tell me what the fuck is goin’ on!”

Linden glared at him, the anger and defense evident in her eyes. “It’s nothing.”

Holder shook his head and stepped before turning back to her, “Don’t you trust me?” She didn’t answer. Holder’s anger dissipated, and was replaced by hurt. He turned away, unsure what to do.

“The Picasso case.”

He turned to face her, “What?”

“It’s the Picasso case. Ray Seward... we arrested him for the murder.” It seemed since she had started speaking she wasn’t going to stop now. “He was the father of the kid, husband to the victim. My partner was convinced that he was the doer and I wasn’t. I let it go, I moved on.” Holder looked down at her but she looked away and shook her head, “I’m not saying anything else about it.”

Holder breathed out through his nose and did a half shrug, “Aight.”

She climbed inside the car and started the engine.

——

Since the news about the Tucker case, Caroline and Bruno had been called back into work even though it was the weekend. They sat at their own desks respectively, going through paper work and case files trying to determine if there was a hole in their defense. They’d been at it for a few hours when the District Attorney summoned them.

“Caroline?” She looked up, District Attorney Spencer Price stood in the doorway of her office. “My office, now.”

Her heart sank. If the D.A. was summoning her they were truly up shits creek. She stood up and followed him down the hall to his office. Bruno was standing in front of Price’s desk, he turned around and met her eyes briefly before looking at the D.A. now sitting behind his desk.

Price clasped his hands together looking down. “There’s no other way to say this,” he began before looking up at the pair of them. “At this point the case is lost.”

“Sir—” Caroline shook her head, convinced that they still had time.

He raised a hand to quiet her, “I don’t like it anymore then you do Swift. This looks bad on all of us,” his eyes moved to Bruno as well. “We’ve been prosecuting, what appeared to be an innocent man.”

“Innocent until proven guilty!” Bruno exclaimed.

“That’s just it though, isn’t it? The evidence is clear that he is not guilty. A murder cannot be committed from behind bars, and the MO of the Friday murder is the exact same as your case’s. Right down to the angle of the stab wound. It’s over.” Caroline and Bruno looked dejected, Price nodded. “Alright then, tomorrow you’ll go to court and the judge will make the announcement that he’s dismissing the case. Then you’re gonna haul ass outta there. I don’t want the press to eat this up, which they will, but I don’t want our office to be at the center of it. Understand?”

“Yes sir,” Caroline dipped her head, then Bruno did the same.

Price bobbed his head, “That’s all.”

——

Driving back to the precinct, Sarah and Holder had been silent. Holder had lit a cigarette and had been fiddling with the radio.

“Enough Holder,” she drawled after he’d been at it for ten minutes, “just stop. Can’t you stay still?”

Holder blew out a large breath before getting a hit off of his smoke, “What’s our next move?”

She adjusted herself in the car seat and briefly flexed her fingers, “We’ll head back to the station, look over the evidence and information that we have.”

He shook his head, “We already did that.”

“Re-examining evidence is never a bad idea, you should know that by now,” she snapped, her grip tightened on the wheel.

Holder sighed and looked out the window, taking another hit. “We shoulda stayed.”

Sarah didn’t respond to that. After a few more minutes of silence she said, “He’s guilty.”

“Who?”

“Tucker, he did it. I don’t know how he managed it, but he did it.”

He gave her a stricken look, “It’s day 3 and you’re already saying shit like that? Dangerous territory Linden. Might I remind you of what I helped happen to Darren Richmond?”

She deflated, her grip on the steering wheel loosened and she let out a small breath. “You’re right.”

“Come again?”

“I said, you’re right.”

A shit eating grin began to spread across Holder’s face, “Wait say it for me one more time I gotta grab my phone to record this—”

“Shut up Holder,” though her words held no heat and he could see the corners of her lips turning up.

——

Leah was lying on her side in a bed that wasn’t her own, under a plethora of covers. Though extremely comfortable, the sheets were incredibly soft and the covers warm, there was a strong sense of discomfort in the pit of her stomach. 

There was a soft knock at the door, inwardly Leah groaned wanting nothing more then to be left alone. She let out a soft sigh, “Come in.”

The door swung open and Anthony took a few tentative steps forward, “Hey there, can I come in?”

“Of course,” Leah pushed herself into a sitting position and Anthony sat on the edge of the bed.

“How are you doing hun?”

She tried to pull an authentic smile, “I’m better Tony, thank you. I think I’m actually going to head home today.”

Anthony raised his eyebrows, “Are you sure? It’s no rush, really. You are more then welcome to stay.”

“No,” Leah shook her head, “no I’m really alright. I need to go back.”

“Alright then, if you’re sure.” He gave her a gentle smile. “Just know we’re here for you.”

She nodded. Anthony squeezed her knee and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, the smile dropped from Leah’s face and her eyes began to well up with tears.

——

When they got back to the office, the detectives sat behind their desks and went to work. Sarah retrieved the Helen White case file and began to go over it again, while Holder got out the little black basketball in his desk and held it tightly between his hands as he looked up at the 2 boards.

His eyes roved over each picture and report thoroughly, and he stood up at one point so he could look at the scribble that was indiscernible from his seat. His fingers gripped the bumpy ridges of the ball in his hands, tightening his hold out of frustration he turned to Linden, “Find anything?” 

Sarah’s jaw tightened enough that Holder could see the muscles in her face contract. “Helen White had worked for King County Department of Public Defense for just over a year and half when she was assigned Tucker’s case. The charges were dismissed in May 2011, and then she was murdered in September 2012, that’s a long gap of time, over a year. Why would he kill the public defender who helped him stay out of jail?”

Holder blew out a breath and headed back to his chair, “Don’t make no sense, does it?”

“What put the D.A.’s office onto him in the first place?”

“According the file we got from Caroline, one of the things was the knife wound again. Guy in the bar was stabbed near the groin, similar to Helen’s wound.” Holder pointed to the board where he had just re-read the information. “They brought Tucker in for questioning and the guy was evasive, plus he didn’t have an alibi.”

Sarah nodded and continued to read the papers in front of her, “Helen was single, no immediate family near Seattle... and there were no other suspects. It looks like the D.A.’s office just jumped on the only lead they had, and the judge went for it. Tucker was remanded into custody, and has been a resident of Elliot Bay ever since.”

Holder rubbed a hand over his face, “Shit...” 

A soft knock at the door drew both Holder and Sarah’s attention, their heads looking up to the doorway. Caroline stood there, in a business suit clutching her brief case and wearing a neutral expression on her face. “Sorry to interrupt, may I come in?”

“‘Course,” said Holder standing up, “you wanna sit?”

She shook her head, “No that’s alright this shouldn’t take long.”

Holder glanced over at Linden before looking back at Caroline, “Whassup?”

“The District Attorney sent me over to tell you that tomorrow that charges against Mitchell Tucker will be dropped.”

“What?!” Sarah’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth twitched.

“Because you have not reported any new findings, the D.A.’s office has no choice but to come to the conclusion that we pursued the wrong man in this matter.”

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” Holder said exasperated.

Caroline shrugged, “I’m just the messenger. I can’t believe it’s come to this... we can only hope Tucker doesn’t sue for wrongful imprisonment.” She let out a small sigh, “We almost convicted an innocent man.”

Sarah stood up, “You don’t know that he’s innocent.” Her voice held such conviction that both Holder and Caroline turned their gaze towards her. “This could all be a ploy, he could have set this all up.”

“You can’t commit a murder from behind bars detective,” Caroline said with her brows contracted and her forehead scrunched. “It’s impossible.”

“He may not be innocent.” 

The A.D.A. sighed and looked down, “Look it’s over. The District Attorney’s Office thanks you both for your efforts.”

Frustrated Sarah turned away, she clenched her hands into fists by her side. Behind her she could hear Holder have a short verbal exchange with Caroline before the office door closed. After a minute of still silence, Holder spoke, “C’mon Linden, what angle do you wanna tackle in the Burton case?”

She spun around quickly her face fierce, “The Tucker lead is the best we have.”

Holder threw his arms up, “He was behind bars when the killing happened!” 

“Both murders were identical, and the victims were both lawyers!”

“That don’t mean that Tucker did it,” Holder stepped up to her his neck bent down as he stared into her eyes. “It means someone else out there got away with it Linden, and he’s still out there.” 

Her jaw clenched, the hard look in her eyes was unwavering. 

——

It was towards end of shift when Henderson summoned Reynolds to meet just outside of Ward C. Reynolds left the ward he had been patrolling to make his way to the other part of the prison, dreadfully worried he was about to be asked to stay overtime. Henderson stood with his hands on his hips looking impatient waiting for the other guard.

Reynold stood just a few feet away, “Sir?” 

“Court cases resume tomorrow, make sure your charges know they gotta be ready.”

“Oh, right.” Reynolds had completely forgotten what day it was. “I’ll go ahead and let Tucker know.”

“After that you can clock and leave,” said Henderson with a curt nod. Before Reynolds could even acknowledge him, the other guard had walked away.

Reynolds went into Ward C and down to Tucker’s cell. The man was lying on his cot, his back against the wall, and his legs tucked underneath him. The guard cleared his throat, “Tucker you awake?”

At first there was no answer then in a soft spoken tone he replied, “Yes, I am.”

“Right, well I’m here to remind you that you got court tomorrow. The bus’ll be here to get you at 7:30 am, you have to be dressed and ready to go. Understood?”

“Understood.”

Reynolds nodded once, satisfied the message had been delivered, and he turned to leave.

——

Vani packed files and stacks of papers into a box as she cleared out the law office. 

——

Leah opened the door into her home, she looked around as she walked down the hall and went up the stairs. 

——

Holder had gone home for the night leaving Linden in their office by herself. She stood in front of the whiteboards studying the information they had thus far, determined to find a loophole of some kind that would keep Mitchell Tucker behind bars.


	4. Day 4

October 16, 2014   
Day 4

7 a.m. the next morning found Sarah sitting behind her desk with her head in her hands. She hadn’t left the precinct last night, and had spent the night working, not getting any sleep at all. Her temples were throbbing, and exhaustion was overtaking her—or it was trying to. She was intent on pushing through the tiredness that was seeping into her bones, because in an hour and a half Mitchell Tucker would be released back into society.

It was her gut instinct that was getting to her, that told her he wasn’t innocent. Sarah didn’t know how he was behind the Burton murder seeing as how he had been in maximum security prison, but she was positive that he was behind it somehow. She seemed to be the only one to believe so at this point though. The D.A.’s office now only cared about damage control and the consequences of prosecuting an “innocent” man. Even Holder didn’t believe Tucker was guilty and they were wasting their time investigating him. Sarah bit the inside of her cheeks as she looked up at the whiteboards for what had to be the hundredth time in the past 12 hours. Something, there had to be something.

The door to the office opened and Holder stopped at the sight of Sarah looking up at the boards. He took one look at his partner and groaned throwing his head back, “Please don’t tell me you spent the night here and didn’t get any sleep.”

Linden evaded the question, her eyes still glued to the boards, “You’re here early.”

Holder gave her an exasperated look before sighing and walking the rest of the way inside of the office to his desk, “Caroline was restless, she didn’t sleep too well ‘cause of court this mornin’. She got up early, so I decided to get to work a bit early.”

“Great,” Sarah gave a sharp nod and stood up, “then let’s get started.”

——

The bailiff opened the doors to the courtroom, Caroline and Bruno made their way inside. Kyle Reed was just behind them and broke off to the left to take his seat at the defense table with a triumphant air about him. The two A.D.A.’s went to the right where the prosecution table was, both of them feeling solemn. 

The solemn feeling intensified as the minutes ticked by, until finally the bailiff cleared his throat and called, “All rise.” Everyone in the court stood up, except for the judge. The bailiff spoke again, “The honorable Judge Arthur presiding. Please be seated.” 

Everyone sat down once again, including the judge who clasped his hands together and looked from the defense to the prosecution, “At this time the court calls State of Washington vs. Mitchell Tucker, case number 0397. Will the parties state their appearances for the record, please.”

Caroline glanced over at Bruno as the two of them stood. She raised her chin and spoke in a cool calm voice, “Assistant District Attorney Caroline Swift, along with Assistant District Attorney Bruno Chavez, representing the State of Washington.”

“Mitchell Tucker is here in person,” Tucker’s lawyer said as he and Tucker stood up. “Kyle Reed on his behalf.”

“Very well,” the judge dipped his head. “We are outside the presence of the jury at this time. It is my understanding that the defense has a matter that it wishes to bring up before we bring the jurors in.”

“We do your honor,” said Reed glancing over at the prosecution his jubilation radiating from his very being. “New evidence, damning evidence has come forward proving my client’s innocence.” He took out some papers from a folder on the table. “This past Friday, the District Attorney’s office received a phone call about a murder, and the caller claimed to be the murderer of the crime my client is convicted of. The weapon and method of killing is identical to the aforementioned crime, therefore my client could not be the perpetrator. As such I call for all charges against my client to be dismissed.”

Arthur leaned back in his chair and looked over to the defense, “Ms. Swift? Mr. Chavez?”

Caroline took a deep breath inhaling through her nose and gave a curt nod, “It’s true your honor, and the state does not wish to fight the motion that Mr. Reed has filed for.”

The judge didn’t look away from Caroline for a moment, then he cleared his throat and sat up straight, “If that is the State’s wish, then so be it. Bailiff, bring in the jury.”

It only took a few moments, the bailiff walk out of the courtroom and led in the 12 jurors to stand in front of their seats in the jury box to the right of the defense. Arthur nodded, “You may be seated.” The jury along with Reed, Tucker, Bruno, and Caroline took their seats. Arthur’s attention turned to the jury, “Good morning members of the jury. What we have today is a unique situation, and though not entirely unheard of it is indeed rare to experience.” He looked up at the defense, “Mr. Reed?”

Reed stood up, “Your honor at this time I call for a motion of dismissal due to new evidence that indicates my client’s innocence.”

The judge looked at the prosecution, “Does the state have any objection?”

“We do not your honor,” said Caroline as she and Bruno stood as well.

Arthur nodded and retrieved the gavel in front of him, “Very well. Members of the jury, on behalf of King County, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude for your service. I recognize the personal sacrifice in terms of time and restrictions on your normal activities that the Court has required of you during this trial. The conclusion was indeed an unorthodox one, but this is why we have our judicial system in place. At this time you are excused.”

The jurors exchanged looks with one another as the bailiff escorted them out once more. Once they were gone, the judge looked at Tucker, “Mr. Tucker, on behalf of King County I hereby dismiss all charges against you. You are once again a free man.”

The sound of the gavel banging against the table echoed through the court room.

——

“Yo, Linden check this out.” Holder was hunched over his computer screen sitting at his desk across from Sarah. 

She looked up from the file that she had been reading, “What is it?”

“Just c’mere, it’s about the knife.” 

Sarah stood up and walked around to Holder’s desk her eyes glued to his screen. He was on a website of a specialty knife company called SOG, and the knife Holder had brought up looked like their murder weapon. “How did you find this?”

“I was trying to find a copy of the knife that matched the mold the coroner made us, and found out about this company in Seattle. One of the blades is pretty damn close to our murder weapon.” He looked up at her, “You ever heard of ‘em?”

She shook her head, “Never. They’re in Seattle?”

“Lynnwood, ‘bout twenty minutes away.”

“Alright... do you have the name or title of that knife?” she asked pointing to the screen.

Holder pushed her arm away, “Don’t touch the screen Linden.”

Sarah gritted her teeth, “C’mon Holder.”

“Looks like it’s called SEAL Team Elite,” he sat back and crossed his arms. “They’re promoting it as some kind of all around use knife, like survival but tactical as well.”

“Print that out, then we’ll go. If we can get our hands on one of those knives and bring it to the coroner he can confirm whether or not it was the murder weapon.”

“And if it was then we can maybe go back to the company and find out who bought one in the past three years...” Holder’s voice lost enthusiasm as he spoke. “No way that’s gonna be possible though, that might be like, a million people.”

“It’s a lead,” Sarah said leaving no room for argument. “C’mon, let’s go.”

——

Vani opened the door to the law office letting the wood swing back and into the wall as she stood in the doorway looking at the inside of the room. The air was eerily still, and a sadness lingered about the place, though she realized that was probably her own doing.

Hopefully after today she wouldn’t have to come back here ever again. The landlord had been nice enough, telling Vani she could have until the end of the next rent cycle, but Vani had no interest in sticking around and decided to clear out right away. She had started cleaning up yesterday but hadn’t been able to finish.

As the paralegal stepped further into the flat she was reminded of how much she had relied on this job and she had no clue where she would be going from this point onward. Suddenly unemployed, and pretty emotionally damaged. What the hell was she supposed to do from here?

Mark had always been so kind to her, a mentor really. He knew she had aspirations to go to law school and even given her a pay bump to help with her savings. When Vani’s dad had gotten sick last year, Mark had given her a week off so that she could go home. She would always be grateful for that, her dad had died on the fourth day of her visit and she had been by his side. At times working for Mark had seemed almost too good to be true. He brightened up the room, and only cared about helping others. He made that clear through his dedication to his work.

With a tearful sigh Vani placed the empty boxes down and headed for the office on the left when there was a small knock on the door behind her. She turned to yell at the intruder but the words froze in her throat when she recognized the woman in the doorway, “Caitlin?”

Caitlin Gardner gave Vani a kind smile but still looked a little apprehensive, “May I come in?”

Perplexed, the paralegal nodded and Caitlin stepped inside. “I thought maybe... I could help you pack up today.”

“Oh, really? I mean...” Van looked around the office almost at a loss for words, “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I don’t mind at all.” Caitlin stepped forward and grabbed an empty box, “I know how much you just want to be done with this anyways so I’m more then happy to help.”

A grateful smile pulled at the corners of Vani’s lips. She nodded, “Okay. I only really have one more office to clear out—Mr. Burton’s. It shouldn’t take too long with the two of us.”

——

Evan Henderson watched the security cameras in the surveillance room, his eyes glued to each of the screens. The lackey sitting beside him was nodding off and thus pissing the hell off of Henderson. He kicked the lackey’s chair and the guard let out a short snore as he came to attention. The glare on Henderson’s face was enough to scare the lackey into standing and stretching in an attempt to remain awake.

Without a word Henderson walked out of surveillance and went to check on the guards in the front. Just as he got to the small security office the desk phone began to ring, the guard inside answered and met Henderson’s eye. Curious, Henderson went inside but not before the phone was back on the cradle.

“What’s that about?” asked Henderson.

“It’s Tucker sir, in Ward C?” said the guard. “He’s being released today. All charges have been dropped against him. They’re on their way over with the paperwork right now.”

——

Detective Linden climbed out of the car and stepped out onto the parking lot pavement throwing her smoke on the ground before stomping it out and looking up at the SOG logo on the building. She heard Holder’s door close before he asked, “What does SOG stand for anyways?”

“Studies and Observations Group,” said Sarah without missing a beat. 

Holder blew out one last puff of smoke before disposing of his cig as well then he stepped in line with her and they both made their way towards the entrance. The building was architecturally significant in that two flat sides of the building came together to meet a peak in the middle. “Kinda reminds you of a knife, don’t it?” asked Holder looking up at the building.

Sarah didn’t answer but she also didn’t disagree with him, in fact she thought he had a fair point. But Sarah was a man on a mission. Holder reached for the door first and held it open for her, she stepped past him and went inside the building. They walked into a large lobby with a front desk just inside, and a winding staircase behind the desk. To the right of the desk was a door leading to a hallway that according to a sign lead to the workshop, and to the left of the desk was a door leading to small showroom. 

There was a receptionist behind the desk, a blonde haired man with tired looking blue eyes. He looked up with an exasperated expression as the detectives walked inside, “Can I help you?”

Both Sarah and Holder unclipped their shields from their belts and showed them to the receptionist, “I’m Detective Linden this is my partner Detective Holder, we need to speak with whoever is in charge.”

The receptionist looked back and forth from Holder to Linden for a minute before he leaned over the desk and peaked into the open door of the showroom. He sat back down and looked back up at them, “Samantha is on the showroom floor. You can speak to her.”

“Thanks.” Sarah gave a curt nod and headed to the showroom. It was a rather small space, but the amount of merchandise was plentiful. The walls were covered in knives and tools, and there were glass display cases with more intricate and expensive knives and tools. A woman, supposedly Samantha, stood behind one of the cases bending down and closing one of the doors to the display cases. When she stood up the detectives saw that she had shoulder length curly brown hair and brown eyes, she wore a black polo with a pair of dark blue jeans. 

When Samantha saw the detectives she smiled kindly her eyes lingering on Holder, “Good morning folks.”

“Hi,” Sarah pulled a small smile briefly before letting it drop, “we’re with Seattle Police Department, I’m Detective Linden this is Detective Holder. We were wondering if we could ask you a few question.”

The smile didn’t leave the floor woman’s face, “Sure thing, what’s up?”

Sarah unfolded the sheet of paper that they had printed out at the precinct, “Do you recognize this knife?”

Samantha barely glanced at it, “Of course that’s our SEAL Team Elite knife. Still popular after all these years.”

Holder, who had been looking at the cases looked up, “Been ‘round for a while?”

She smiled toothily at him and nodded, “Since ‘03, year doesn’t matter though. It’s still one of our best sellers, and one of the best reviewed.”

“Could we see one of those knives by any chance?” asked Sarah.

“Sure,” Samantha nodded and walked around the cases. She stopped by one that was fairly empty and only had a few products inside, she pulled out the knife holding it delicately before placing it on the counter. 

Both Sarah and Holder huddled over to look at the weapon, Holder reached into his pocket taking out the mold of the weapon from the coroner and laying it beside the knife. After a moment of observation Holder turned slightly to look at Linden, “Looks real similar to me.”

Sarah was nodded absentmindedly then looked up at Samantha, “We need to take one of these knives.”

Samantha’s eyebrows rose, “I mean alright but it’s gonna put you out about $140...”

“You’re shittin’ me,” said Holder looking offended.

“I’m afraid not.”

“Okay,” clearly not happy about it Sarah pulled out her wallet and retrieved her credit card, “here charge it.” Samantha took the card and went to walk around to the register.

Holder whirled on Sarah, “You crazy?”

Sarah shook her head, “The department will reimburse me.”

“You hope,” huffed Holder looking away again. He gathered up the weapon mold and the paper printout. He had just reached for the knife when Samantha walked back over, and put her hand on the knife at the same time.

She laughed lightly, “That’s a display, this is yours.” She handed over a plastic bag with a box inside.

Sarah took the bag, “Thanks for your help. Could we get your contact information?”

Samantha wrote down her information and handed it to Holder with a sly smile. The detectives turned to leave and Samantha called out, “Feel free to call!”

The detectives didn’t turn around and but Holder startled at the teasing smile Linden gave him, “I’m telling your girlfriend.” 

——

Caroline and Bruno had gone back to the D.A.’s office after court at the request of D.A. Price. However, when they’d arrived at the office the Price was unavailable and in a meeting behind a closed office door. His assistant assured the two A.DA.’s that they should wait it out so that they could have their meeting which was why for the past few hours Caroline and Bruno had just been doing busy work in their respective offices. 

Caroline couldn’t get her mind off of what she considered to be a colossal failure on her part with the Tucker case. She wasn’t even sure whether she was upset about trying to put an innocent man away or the fact that she didn’t get Tucker put away. Either way she hadn’t done her job. 

She let a groan and put her head in her hands gently massaging her temples. A sudden knock at her office door had her jerking her head to look up. It was Bruno, he didn’t speak only waved her to follow him. Reluctantly she stood up and did so. They walked down to Price’s office, and once inside they could immediately tell that the District Attorney was not pleased.

Price turned to face them, “Sit down.” It wasn’t a question, so both Caroline and Bruce sat in the seats opposite of the D.A.’s and waited for him to speak. Price shook his head, “It was inevitable of course. But it’s a pain in the ass nonetheless.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Caroline.

“I don’t know how we missed it, how you missed it. The press greeted Tucker’s lawyer outside of the courthouse today.”

Bruce looked at Caroline before looking back at Prince and shaking his head, “We didn’t see any press...”

“That’s my point!” The D.A. snapped. “If you had maybe we would have been on top of this. Instead I’ve been on the phone all morning fielding phone calls about wrongful imprisonments. And yes, that’s plural.”

Caroline stood up slowly, “Alright so damage control. We reach out to Tucker and give a formal apology.”

“That’s one thing we will do yes,” Price nodded, “but that’s not enough. Not this time.”

“What do you suggest?” 

“Oh no, it’s not what I suggest. It’s what you’ll suggest Caroline, you and Bruno. Fix this, and do it now.”

“When will Tucker be released?” asked Bruno.

“Tonight, I’ve already made sure of it. Lest we leave an innocent man in prison longer then he needs to be. You will meet with him tomorrow. His lawyer,” Price gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, “has insisted we do so at S.P.D. so that Tucker can also receive an apology from the Chief of Police. 12 p.m. on the dot am I clear?”

“Yes sir.” Caroline nodded feeling worse then she had been feeling minutes ago.

——

The car pulled back into the precinct’s parking lot and Sarah and Holder both stepped outside. The bag with the knife hung from Holder’s hand.

“Give me the bag,” said Sarah extending her hand.

Holder looked at her and huffed with a small grin, “Ya could say please you know.” 

Sarah didn’t respond and Holder handed over the bag. Once she took it her pace increased as she went into the station and headed straight for the morgue. She stopped just outside of the theater and pulled the knife’s box out, her fingers frantically trying to pull it open.

“Yo take it easy there,” said Holder as he watched her become more hurried, “there ain’t no rush. You want some help?”

“I got it,” she snapped and he didn’t offer his help again. Finally the box was open, she took out the knife before dumping the unwanted contents back in the plastic bag. “Hold this.” She handed over the bag unsystematically and Holder had to grab it quickly before it fell to the ground. She had headed straight into the theater, leaving Holder standing there dumbstruck before he followed her inside.

The coroner wasn’t actively worked on a body, but instead was sitting behind his desk in the corner of the room. He looked up when the door had banged open and upon seeing it was Linden stood up slowly and took off his spectacles, “Detective what can I do for you?”

Sarah held out the knife without preamble, “This knife matches the mold you gave us. Can you tell us for sure whether this was the murder weapon?”

He looked at her for a beat, before putting his spectacles back on and reaching for the knife.

“Yo be careful with that son,” said Holder, “Linden dropped $140 on it.”

The coroner ignored him and looked up at Sarah, “You’ll have to come back tomorrow for the results.” At Sarah’s nod the coroner walked out of the room.

A disgusted look came over Holder’s face, “He doin’ what I think he’s doin’?”

“Depends, do you think he’s stick that knife into our victim?” The corner of her mouth turned up slightly at the look on Holder’s face, it was just too funny. “Because he’s not. He’ll stab something else, get another mold and compare the two then he’ll tell us whether or not it’s our murder weapon.”

The color that had left Holder’s face came back, “Oh... pff yeah I knew that.”

Sarah turned to head out of the theater, “I’m sure you did.”

——

The Burton Law Offices were completely empty, there was no sign that the space had ever been occupied. Vani stood in the doorway taking a look at the inside one last time, before turned off the light and closed the door.

——

Sarah pulled in front of her home on Vashon Island and had gone to pull out a cigarette to smoke before going inside just as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She reached inside her jacket took the device out. When she opened it she saw the caller was her son, Jack. With a small smile on her face, she climbed out of the car and pressed the accept button, “Hi, Jack.” 

——

A loud buzzer rang, and the door to the outside world opened. Mitchell Tucker took his first few steps as free man, his nostrils filled with the smell of the tress and the damp Seattle air. As he stepped further into the parking lot, a grin spread across his face as he saw the person waiting for him by the car.


	5. Day 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if you know Veena Sud please tell me.
> 
> Please read my other stories too! I love The Killing.

October 17, 2014  
Day 5

Leah Burton stood in front of a floor length mirror staring at her reflection. She wore black heels along with tights and a simple black dress. Slowly she raised her hands to wrap around her neck and hook on the pearl necklace her husband had gifted her on one of their first dates. As she lowered her hands her eyes focused on the pearls, and a memory flashed in her mind of simpler and happier times.

_Laughing over a candlelit dinner. Mark had accidentally spilled his cocktail on himself while stone cold sober. The judging glared and looks from the restaurant staff and patrons made them both laugh even harder. Leah’s cheeks had hurt from smiling so much. They had always laughed together._

Sadness had overtaken her, she’d been unable to find peace with the situation, which she thought was reasonable due to the circumstances. Perhaps if she knew it were going to happen, she would have been more prepared... then again maybe not.

_Lying in bed together in hours of the morning... the sun streaming in through the bedroom window. His arms arms around her, holding her close, making her feel safe and loved. Staring up into his eyes and seeing the adoration she felt for him mirrored back at her. He leaned down slowly, his lips brushed against hers—_

The doorbell rang downstairs shaking Leah out of her spiral. She turned away from the mirror slowly her eyes tearing away from the pearls and she walked out of the bedroom. She didn’t rush as she made her way down the stairs and to the front door, even as she heard incessant knocking behind it. As she pulled the door open she saw Anthony raising his fist to knock again, but when she opened the door he lowered his hand and offered a sympathetic smile, “Hey there.”

Leah didn’t respond immediately, she looked behind Anthony who was wearing a fitted black suit, to his partner Greg dressed in a similar black suit. Leah’s eyes met Anthony’s and she offered a soft, “Hi.”

“We were wondering,” Anthony began gesturing to himself and Greg, “if we could offer you a ride to the service.”

“Oh,” though she was surprised it didn’t show in her reaction which was rather muted, “I mean... I don’t want to impose or anything.”

“It’s not a problem,” said Greg with bright white toothed smile. “We would be more then happy to do so.”

Leah nodded, “Well okay, um... thank you.”

——

Sarah hadn’t even waited for a phone call. She’d sent a text to Holder that morning to meet her at the morgue at 7:30 a.m. and that’s exactly what he did. She was standing outside of the autopsy theater waiting, and as soon as he joined her Sarah had gone inside without a word.

The coroner was at his desk again, but had clearly been expecting the detectives. He glanced up and as soon as he saw it was Holder and Linden, he stood and went to a file cabinet behind the desk and took out a file. No one exchanged pleasantries, the coroner simply took out the old cast mold, along with the cast mold of the knife Sarah had given him, and the knife itself. He looked up and and dipped his head, “You’ve got a match.”

“You sure?” asked Holder.

The look the coroner’s gave the detective was incontrovertible, “The cast mold fit perfectly into the wound without causing any further damage. This knife is your weapon.”

Sarah reached for the materials, “Thanks we really appreciate it.”

The coroner nodded and went back to his desk, then Holder turned to Sarah, “What now?”

“C’mon,” she said before walking out of the theater and heading back upstairs. “We have the how and the what,” she mused as they walked down the hallway to the office, “now we need to figure out the who and why.”

“You say that like it’ll be easy.”

“We already have one suspect,” they had reached the outside of the office.

Holder shook his head and spoke obstinately, “No Linden, no way.”

A small scowl formed on her face and her brow crinkled, “What?”

“The D.A.’s done with him, you heard ‘em!”

Sarah’s lips tightened, “Well I’m not.”

He shook his head, “C’mere.” Holder wrapped his hand around her shoulder and pushed her into the office. She shrugged him off when they were inside, and whirled on him as he closed the door. Holder turned and held his hands up, “Look this guy he’s already goin’ after the D.A’s office aight?”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s giving them all kinds of shit for prosecuting him, asking for formal apologies and whatnot. And he’s getting it, Caroline’s coming here today to give it to him along with the fuckin’ chief of police. So don’t give him a reason to go after you too.”

“He’s coming here?”

“Yeah.” When she didn’t say anything immediately after that Holder studied her face, “I don’t like that look in your eye Linden.”

Her eyes snapped to his, “What time are they coming?”

He shrugged, “Like... at noon.”

Sarah’s gaze wandered past her partner.

——

Vani pulled into a public parking lot across from the church, her head was down and her hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles were white. As she raised her head she could see people had started to walk into the church. She let out a long breath and somehow managed to detach her hands from the wheel and leaned back in her seat.

A knock on the window made her jolt and she looked to the side and saw Caitlin crouching down to look into the car window. Perplexed, Vani took the keys out of the ignition and opened the car to step outside. Once the door was closed she turned back to Caitlin, “What are you doing here?”

Caitlin gave her a sympathetic smile, “I figured I would come here to pay my respects, and to show my support.”

“For me?”

A soft laugh escaped Caitlin’s lips, “Of course you!” Vani didn’t thank her, she didn’t even smile. Her face was in neutral and didn’t change expression. Caitlin seemed to understand though, she sobered with a small close lipped smile. “Do you want to head in?”

“Yeah... I guess I should.” She opened the door and stepped outside, her gaze fixed on the church.

“Listen, I don’t have to go with you...” said Caitlin looking sheepish. “You were talking about the funeral yesterday and how nervous you were so I thought—”

“No! No really it’s fine,” Vani shook her head and gave a small smile. “I actually really appreciate you being here, honest.”

Caitlin smiled brightly. “Shall we go then?”

Vani nodded and the two women headed towards the church.

——

Caroline pressed the key fob locking the car before she headed inside the Seattle Police Department station. Bruno was already inside standing by a bench against the wall with his hands in his pockets. When he saw Caroline walk in he waved her over, “He’s meeting with the chief now. We’re up next.”

She shook her head, “I can’t believe that we’re doing this. It’s outrageous.” Bruno didn’t say anything and a silence grew between the pair of them. Caroline took out her phone and saw a text message from Stephen:

You here yet?

She quickly typed a reply confirming she was in the building before putting the phone down. Less then a minute later Holder walked around the corner with a grim expression on his face, “Hey babe.”

“Hey,” Caroline reach out with a hand to grip his briefly. “What are you doing?”

Holder shrugged and put his hands into his pockets, “Oh ya know police stuff.”

Caroline raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah?”

A small smile tugged on his lips, “Yeah. When you goin’ in to see him?”

She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear, “As soon as he’s done with the chief of police. Why, you want a turn?” When he didn’t answer right away or laugh at the joke, Caroline’s levity disappeared. “Please tell me that’s not what you’re doing.”

Holder looked away and scrunched his face before looking back into her eyes, “Linden wants another crack at him.”

“Stephen, no.”

He raised his arms, “I can’t talk her out of it, trust me I tried!”

Caroline bolted around him and began to walk down the hall, a door opened up ahead and the police chief walked out. She sped up her pace but Linden was closer—the detective walked right up to the doorway and began to speak with whoever was inside. Caroline jogged the rest of the length to the doorway and stuck her head in the room beside Linden, “Are you ready for us, Mr. Tucker?”

Tucker was standing with his lawyer by the table in the middle of the room, a satisfied expression on his face. Neither of the room’s occupants spoke instead Detective Linden did, “Actually I was just asking Mr. Tucker if I could have a moment of his time.”

Fast footsteps behind Caroline told her Stephen and Bruno must had just joined the fray, but she didn’t pay them any mind instead keeping her focus on Tucker. He seemed to be thinking Linden’s proposition over, his lawyer looking at him sharply.

“I suppose,” said Tucker.

Linden nodded and stepped inside the conference room shutting the door behind her.

As Sarah went up to Tucker and his lawyer, her expression never wavered. She placed the folder down on the table, and opened it taking out a few photos. “Do you recognize this man?”

Tucker kept his eyes on Linden for a moment before looking at the picture. It was a crime scene photo from the Burton murder, of Mark Burton lying face down in the ravine. Tucker huffed, “Seeing as how I can’t see the poor chap’s face, I can’t say whether or not I know him.”

A small breath escaped from Sarah’s nose, “Right.” She pulled out the license photo of Mark Burton, “How about now?”

Tucker shrugged, “Perhaps but I can’t be sure.”

“His name is Mark Burton. He was murdered 5 days ago, stabbed just like Helen White.”

“Excuse me,” the lawyer spoke up for the first time. “What exactly are you trying to get at?”

“Can’t you see Kyle?” Tucker grinned, “She’s accusing me of murdering a man while I was in prison.”

Kyle shook his head, “No, my client has been cleared of all charges detective. And I will not have you accuse him with such baseless accusations.”

“Did you know she was his lawyer?” Sarah spoke to the lawyer now. “Helen White? She got him off of an assault charge, I’m sure you know that.”

“As a matter of fact I do so—”

“Mark Burton was considering taking on his case,” she continued speaking over him. “Defending him, and look what happened to him counselor. If I were you I’d cut my losses and run while you still can.”

“This is outrageous—!”

“I agree,” said Tucker stepping up close to the detective looking down at her almost nose to nose, “I truly hoped you would have learned your lesson Detective Linden, about accusing innocent men of such violent crimes. Did Ray Seward’s death mean nothing to you? You made a little boy an orphan.”

There was a moment of stillness following his words where Sarah and Tucker glared at each other. Then suddenly, she launched herself at him her hands almost going to his neck but changing their destination at the last moment and instead gripping his shirt. She walked him back until he slammed against the wall, her teeth bared as she looked into his eyes, “I know you did it. I don’t how, but I know that you did.”

“ _Linden!_ ”

“Such a temper,” Tucker said softly a playful smile on his face.

Linden lifted him from the wall and went to slam him again when she felt someone’s arms wrap around her pull her away. But she didn’t want to let go, anger surging she growled as her hands grasped at Tucker’s shirt as she fought to hold on. With an even greater force she was yanked away and carried to the other side of the room.

“Linden!”

It was Holder. He was standing in front of her now, purposefully standing in between her and Tucker. His pleading eyes met hers, “Linden stop!” Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her breath as she stared into his eyes and saw him willing her to calm down.

The brief moment of tranquility was interrupted when the lawyer pointed a shaking finger at Sarah an arm around an client, “I want her arrested!”

“Woah just hold on a sec—” Holder rounded on the lawyer.

“We have multiple witnesses, you saw it yourself!” Kyle screamed, “Detective Linden purposefully assaulted my client and I will be pressing charges!”

Holder opened his mouth to argue, but then saw Caroline and Bruno watching from the window. There was nothing to be done. Holder’s jaw clenched as he slowly fingered his handcuffs then turned back to his partner, grabbed her arm and led her out of the room.


	6. Day 5 (continued)

Rain had started to fall as the burial had begun and a sea of black umbrellas had gone up almost in unison. Once Mark had been put in the ground the crowd began to disperse, except for two figures by the grave. Leah Burton stood with a small umbrella looking down at the hole in the earth as it was filled in, unable to tear her eyes away until she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, her eyes met those of a woman she didn’t know.

“Hi,” said the stranger with an awkward smile, “my name is Vani Mohan, I worked with Mark. Well, for him. I’m a paralegal.” 

The name sounded vaguely familiar to the widow, as though she had heard Mark mention it before. “Oh, um... hi.”

Neither women spoke or moved for a moment, they just stood in the rain. Vani broke the silence after a while, “I was hoping maybe we could talk, but only if that’s okay. Just like, I don’t know go for a coffee or a drink of something.”

Leah’s eyes wandered to the third woman standing some distance away. Vani turned to see what she was staring on, “That’s just a friend of mine she’s waiting on me.” She turned back to Leah looking anxious, “It doesn’t have to be today. I’m really sorry...” she swallowed and her voice cracked, “sorry for your loss.” Vani reached into her pocket and held out a piece of paper. Leah slowly extended her hand and took it, Vani dipped her head, “It’s my phone number. Maybe, give me a call?”

When Leah didn’t react, Vani gave her a sad smile then turned away walking to the other woman before both of them disappeared into the rain.

——

Sarah paced vicariously in the station’s holding cell, her adrenaline not having died down yet from the incident with Mitchell Tucker. She was furious and embarrassed at how things had unfolded. She didn’t hold any animosity against Holder, he had had no choice with the witnesses present—one of them being himself—and she recognized that. What bothered her was that she had let her emotions overtake her actions and for that she was furious at herself.

The door to to the holding room opened and Holder walked inside up just outside of the cell. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms glancing at her before looking away. Sarah waited for the inevitable speech that she was sure to come. When it didn’t and he didn’t say anything after a minutes she broke the silence first, “Well?”

“Well what?” Holder looked back at her. Sarah saw that the circles under his eyes were more prominent then they were an hour ago. 

She sighed and shrugged her arms letting slap back down to her legs, “Just say what you’re going to say.”

“I dunno what I’m gonna say,” he shrugged his arms still crossed. “I ain’t never dealt with shit like this before.” He shifted his feet and cleared his throat, “I mean... what the fuck Linden?”

Sarah pursed her lip and continued to pace unable to remain still. After moment she stopped and stepped closer to the bars. She ran a hand over her hair then crossed her arms, “I know I messed up...”

“That’s an understatement,” he muttered. At the glare she sent him Holder shrugged, “I’m just calling it how it is.”

She shook her head and took a deep breath closing her eyes, “I let him get to me.”

Holder searched her face and spoke quietly, “What’d he say?”

Sarah looked at Holder and saw that he was looking at her expectantly. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell him, and shook her head. Holder didn’t seem all that surprised at her lack of sharing and merely sighed looking down. She exhaled through her nose, “I’m sorry I put you in that position.”

He nodded, “Yeah me too.” He looked up and titled his head towards her with a slight smile on his face, “I’m sorry I arrested you.”

The corner of her lip quirked up, “I didn’t give you too much of a choice did I?”

Holder huffed a laugh and shook his head. He opened this mouth to speak again when the door banged open and Lieutenant Carlson came in. All playfulness aside, Holder pushed off of the wall and Sarah stood stoic as she waited for the blow. 

The scowl on Carlson’s face was mutinous. “You’re in luck,” he snapped glaring at here. “Mr. Tucker has agreed to drop the charges—” 

Shocked, Sarah couldn’t stop herself, “What?” 

“For real?” Holder said at the same time.

Carlson spoke over both of them, borderline yelling, “Allow me to finish detectives!” Holder and Linden fell silent again and apprehension filled the small atmosphere. “He’s agreed to drop the charges as long as you are removed from the case.”

“No,” Sarah shook her head emphatically, “no sir. Absolutely not.”

The lieutenant took a few steps forward to the cell and spat as he spoke, “May I remind you of just how deep in shit you are Detective?”

“Don’t you get it?” Linden went up the bars her face inches away from his, desperation lining the tone in her voice, “Tucker’s only doing this because we’re getting close, why else would he care about a case that has nothing to do with him? I was getting close, he’s worried that we’re going to find out the truth. He’s guilty!”

“You are out of line Detective!” Carlson boomed, his voice reverberating off of the walls. “You keep going on like this and I’ll make sure you stay in there—hell I’ll have you 51/50’d, am I clear?!”

Sarah’s stomach bottomed out, and she fought not to sway where she stood. She stepped back from the cell bars, her eyes fixed on Carlson’s blazing glare. His words reverberated in her head, the looming threat that they held weighing down on her. Locked in a room, medicated to the point that she had no free will or control of anything... She took notice that her lips were parted, and used her tongue to wet them before she swallowed and raised her head, unsure when it had fallen. Carlson was gone but Holder still stood just outside of the cell. 

“Linden...” Holder spoke softly but was unsure what else to say.

Sarah moved her head for side to side and looked away from him before she moved to sit down on the cot, feeling sick.

——

Tucker and Kyle Reed stood in Lieutenant Carlson’s office, Caroline and Bruno had just excused themselves after delivering their formal apology. Reed turned to Carlson and put out a hand for the lieutenant to shake, Carlson stepped forward and nodded offered his hand to the lawyer.

——

Leah sat on her couch, a glass of red wine on the coffee table looked untouched. In one hand she held her phone, and in the other was the piece of paper that Vani had handed her.

——

Sarah walked out of the precinct quickly into the rain. She unlocked her car and got inside sitting for a moment just appreciating being out of the downfall of what had happened a few hours ago. Then from her jacket, she pulled out a folder, stuffed to the brim with papers and photos. 

It was a copy of the file for the Burton case.


	7. Day 6

October 18, 2014  
Day 6

Detective Stephen Holder had had a restless night of sleep. He sat up in bed and looked over at the alarm clock disgruntled, especially when he saw that he didn’t need to be awake for another hour. Pressing his face into the palms of his hands with his elbows on his knees he welcomed the borderline pain as his hands sunk deeper into his face.

“Stephen?”

With a sigh he dropped his hands and looked over to the side, he must have woken Caroline up. “Hey it’s still early,” he said trying to sound nonchalant. “Go back to sleep.”

She ignored him and sat up to a sitting position like his, “I could say the same to you. Have you even slept for an hour without waking up?”

Holder shook his head, “Prob’ly not, just got a lot on my mind. I didn’t mean to wake you though, I’m sorry.”

Caroline shook her head, “It’s alright really I get it. Yesterday was...”

“Shit?”

“I was going to say stressful but yeah that works too.”

He huffed a laugh then lifted the covers before swinging his legs over the side of the bed, “I’m just gonna get ready. Might as well.” He turned and looked down at her.

“Want some company?” She asked at an attempt of levity.

Holder grinned but shook his head, “Nah not today.”

“It’s not your fault you know.”

The smile dropped from his face, “Yeah I know.”

“Then why are you acting like it is?”

“She’s my partner,” he said imploringly, “and she’s my friend.”

Caroline looked away and took a breath before she spoke, “She’s trying to initiate a ghost hunt, instead of actually doing her job.”

He shook his head and huffed, “You don’t know that though.”

“Stephen,” she pushed herself to her feet and padded over to him, “the evidence says he’s innocent.”

Holder’s mouth was agape, after a moment he closed his jaw and shook his head before running a hand through his hair. “I gotta go.”

“You don’t need to be at work for another hour at least.”

He brushed past her, “I’m goin’ in early.”

“Wait.” Caroline grabbed his wrist gently, and Holder stopped. She tugged him gently towards her and he faced her, her hand reached up to tuck his bed head hair away from his face before cupping his cheek. “I’m on your side, you know that right?”

He leaned into her touch and reached up to wrap his hand around her wrist, “Yeah... I know you are.”

Privately he wondered who was on Linden’s side.

——

Julia’s in Wallingford was a neighborhood favorite for breakfast, brunch, and lunch. It was still fairly early in the morning when Vani sat at a table outside of the restaurant, a steaming mug of hot coffee sat on the table in front of her. Her nerves were on edge, and she was willing herself to stay calm. She fingered the menu for what had to be the twentieth time since she had arrived fifteen minutes ago, wondering if she had made a big mistake.

“Hi.”

Vani looked around and saw Leah standing right beside the table. Vani smiled nervously and made to stand up but Leah shook her head and waved her arm, “No please...” then she pulled out the chair across from Vani and took a seat. With a nervous smile her cheeks turned slightly pink, “Sorry I was running a little late.”

Vani waved her off, “Please it’s fine.”

Leah nodded and then sighed, “I love Julia’s...” she looked around with a fond smile on her face. “We came here a lot together, Mark and I.” She turned to look back at Vani, “Do you live in the neighborhood?”

“Me, live in Wallingford? No.” Vani chuckled and shook her head clearly amused.

“What’s so funny?” The fond smile hadn’t left Leah’s face though it had been joined by curiosity as her brow furrowed.

“The idea of me living in Wallingford,” said Vani still chuckling. “I mean, talk about wishful thinking. I could never afford to live here.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Leah blushed full on this time, embarrassed. “I just thought because well, you suggested it...”

Vani wagged her head from side to side, “I just looked for a good breakfast place in the neighborhood.” She smiled, “Google can be very helpful.”

A small laugh escaped from Leah’s lips. It was the first time she had laughed since Mark had died.

——

Sarah hadn’t slept the whole night, instead dozing on and off occasionally. The previous days events weighed on her greatly, and she had spent the hours since leaving the precinct pouring over the copy of the case file that she had snagged. She wasn’t expected on the station today, in fact Carlson had made it clear that she was meant to keep her distance. And while his threat did shake her, Sarah was determined not to let a guilty man walk free.

At some point though Linden had to admit that she could only read over the same information so many times before she began to believe that she may have been wrong. Because there was nothing. Absolutely nothing that pointed to Tucker’s guiltiness and now panic was settling in her gut.

Maybe she was wrong.

Sarah buried her face in her hands and a small groan escaped from her lips. She looked up to the clock on her kitchen wall and saw that it was mid-morning, approaching 11 o’clock. Grabbing the empty mug of coffee she went to the coffee pot next to the sink and poured herself another cup. The liquid was lukewarm at best and tasted sour going down her throat.

Had she been leading a witch hunt? So considering no one had truly believed her he couldn’t really be called a witch hunt more like a vendetta. Sarah had let Tucker get under her skin, and now here she was. She turned and went back to the table looking at the papers spread out over the surface, when her landed zeroed in on one in particular.

Not something to do with Tucker though, it was information on Helen White. Sarah reached forward and picked up the paper putting down the mug of coffee to free both of her hands. The report read that it had been suspected that Helen may have been killed as she jogged to the park from her home; she had been dressed in exercise clothes. Tucker had followed her and stabbed her before throwing her down to the ravine.

“Where did she live...” Sarah mused out loud. She looked down and found another page of the report, which read that Helen had lived in a house about a mile away from the park. How would he have known where she lived?

Sarah took the papers and grabbed her jacket off of the back of the kitchen chair swinging it around and pulling it on before heading to the door.

——

Linden’s outburst hadn’t exactly been subtle, and new of what had happened had spread quickly through the entire precinct. Holder figured as much and wasn’t too surprised when he walked into work and felt the eyes of every cop bore into him. Though he wished that they wouldn’t. In addition to this discomfort, Holder saw Lieutenant Carlson in the hallway as he made his way down and much to his chagrin, Carlson’s waved him over, “Holder!”

Grinding his teeth Holder walked over to Carlson who headed to his office. Once they were both I side Carlson went to sit behind his desk, “Close the door.” Holder went back and the closed door then faced his boss again with his hands in pockets. The lieutenant cleared his throat, “What happened yesterday with Detective Linden was extremely unfortunate.” Under-fucking statement of the year. “I am very please a d proud of your actions, your focus is in the right place.” Holder dipped his head in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything. Carlson continued, “That being said, you still have a case to work and I don’t have a spare detective to partner you with.”

“I can do it on my own,” Holder nodded.

Carlson squinted his eyes looking closely at the detective. Whatever he was looking for he’d apparently found. “I’m glad to hear it. Keep me in the loop detective, you’re dismissed.

——

“I know it’s a bit of a walk, but I think it’s worth it,” said Leah.

Woodland Park came into view up ahead. When Vani glanced up her eyebrows rose, “Oh my god it’s huge!”

“Isn’t it?” Leah had a bright smile on her face.

Still in a state of awe Vani glanced at the other woman, “The two of you made this walk a lot?”

“It depended on the weather,” shrugged Leah, “but yeah. Especially after breakfast.”

Vani smiled, “It’s not so bad. Only 15 minutes right? And that couldn’t have even been a mile.”

“The real work begins once you get to the park,” Leah smiled slyly.

“Does it?”

Leah nodded, “There’s a zoo you know.”

“No there isn’t!” Vani’s mouth fell open in shock, “In the park?!”

Leah nodded, “Mark and I went together a few times. It’s really quite delightful.” She looked up at Vani, “I don’t suppose you’d want to go?”

“Are you kidding? I would love to.”

“It’s going to be a bit of a longer walk...”

“I’m up for the challenge,” Vani said with smile.

The women made it to the park and began to walk around. After a while, Leah cleared her throat, “I wanted to thank you. For reaching out to me at the funeral... this is the first time I’ve enjoyed myself since, you know.”

Vani nodded, “I’m glad that I did. I was honestly scared, I mean we’d never met or anything. So I was reaching out to a complete stranger, a grieving stranger. But I’m glad that I did too.”

Leah nodded, “I’m glad you did too. My neighbor, he’s been trying to help me, you know be present. But he’s managing me with,” she hissed, “I’m not really sure how to describe it. Cradling me almost? Does that make sense?”

“It does...” Vani nodded. “I’m sure he has the best intentions...”

“Oh of course.”

“But sometimes what you need, is a reminder of the reality so that you can face it... and begin to move on. Wallowing in the same place is never good.”

Another silence fell over them. Leah sniffed and wiped away a tear, “Thank you Vani.”

——

Sarah had parked her car at Fauntleroy Park, and was walking to the address of Helen White. She wanted to get a feel of what Helen’s run should have looked like to and from the park. For only being one mile away, the house was proving to be quite the distance, she had been walking for 20 minutes, used up two smokes, and still had not come across the house on 32nd Ave. Just as Sarah was about to call it and head back to her car, she saw it up ahead on the left.

Detective Linden pulled out the paper again, to double check the address as she stopped in front of the one-story home, a pale yellow color with a window on each side next to the red front door. She turned in the direction of the park, thinking how far the distance really had been. The sound of the front door opening had her turning back to the house and seeing a woman step outside. When she saw Sarah a curious expression came over her face, “Can I help you?”

Sarah barely hesitated, “My name is Detective Linden I’m with Seattle Police. How long have you lived in this house?”

Perplexed and perhaps somewhat defensive the woman crossed her arms, “3 years, why do you care?”

Sarah looked down at the paper, double then triple checking the address. She quickly walked over to the woman and pointed to the photo I.D. of Helen, “Do you recognize her?”

The woman frowned and looked at the picture, “Yeah ‘course I do. She’s the one who got me the house.”

Her brow furrowed, “Got you the house?”

“Yeah it to be hers. I rented it out from her, and when she died her family wanted nothing to do with it so they gave it to me.”

“Do you know why she was leasing the place?” Sarah asked quickly. “Where did she go live?”

“She went off with that boyfriend of hers. They one they arrested.”

The information nearly knocked Linden back on her feet. Her hand reached into her pocket and took out a business card, then she reached back for a pen. “What’s your name?”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“This is a murder investigation,” Sarah snapped.

The woman looked at Sarah suspiciously before letting out a small sigh, “Tanya Campbell.”

“Can you write your phone number down on here for me please?”

Tanya took the pen and wrote a number on the card. Sarah nodded her thanks, “I’ll be in touch.”

Linden walked quickly back down the street to the park. For all the time it had taken to get to the house, the park was getting closer sooner and sooner.

Then a figure stepped out in front of her, she’d be going too fast to avoid the collision or see who it was. A hand clamped down on her shoulder, fingers digging in so deep she was sure the person was trying to reach the bone. Any passerby would have thought they were two friends embracing. Before she could do anything or pull her head back to see who the person was, she found herself steered to the alley in between the deli and the bar that she had just passed. When she was pinned against the brick wall the pain below registered, starting small but rapidly becoming more prominent.

Sarah’s eyes traveled down and she saw the stranger’s hand gripping the handle of a knife that was buried just above her right leg. She found that she couldn’t look up and watched as the knife shifted making her cry out in pain.

A voice tickled her ear, “You should have left it alone detective.”

She saw the blade twist and pull away covered in red. Sarah’s leg wouldn’t hold her weight and she collapsed to the ground, her head collided with the concrete partially cushioned by her ponytail. Her phone began to vibrate in her pocket, and she could feel blood pouring out of her body, cascading down her leg.

The attacker stared at her silently before turning and walking away leaving her to bleed out. The phone was still buzzing in her pocket, spluttered breaths choked their way out of her lungs and she willed her body to move but couldn’t do it. Uncontrollable tears of pain escaped from the corner of her eyes. Her hands reached down to her jacket pocket, and began to feel sluggish and disoriented. All she had to do was answer the phone. Her fingers grasped the device and she pulled it out with shaking hands then flipped it open.

“ _Yo, Linden it’s me. I think you mighta been right about Tucker. I just found—_ ”

“Holder...”


	8. Day 6 (continued)

Holder stood over the desk going through the messy pile of papers doing his best to reorganize them. His theory being if he could start at the beginning, maybe he’d find something they’d missed before. Linden was rubbing off on him; he was putting piles together organizing for where each subject belonged whether it be the Helen White case, Mark Burton case, the trial information...

His anal approach paid off when his eyes fell on a sheet of paper he had never seen before. Holder reached out and picked it up, a small frown on his face as eyes roved over the paper. He reached over and picked up a different sheet that had already been sorted due to his organization, then picked up the desk phone and dialed.

“ _This is Samantha._ ”

“Yeah this is Detective Holder, we met the other day.”

“ _Yes detective..._ ” Her smile could be heard in her voice. “ _That knife working well for you?_ ”

“Yeah it’s great, listen... I’m gonna send you a picture of someone could you tell me if you recognized them?”

“ _Um... sure?_ ”

“Great, gimme a minute.” He picked up the photo I.D. of Tucker and snapped a shot with his phone before sending it. “I just sent it over.”

“ _Alright just a sec,_ ” there was a brief pause before he heard her pick up the phone. “ _Yeah, I know him. He used to work in the shop here. His name is Fred Willis._ ”

Holder couldn’t believe his own ears, “Fred Willis? You sure?”

She chuckled, “ _Pretty sure. He worked here for a few months before leaving. Really had a thing for knives._ ”

“Alright thanks.” He hung up the call and dialed again quickly this time a number he knew by heart, “Yo, Linden it’s me. I think you nights been right about Tucker. I just found—”

“ _Holder..._ ”

His head snapped up, something was wrong. He could hear it in her voice. “Linden? What’s—”

“ _Hold... elp..._ ”

“The fuck?!” The detective sprinted from the office and down the hall barely avoiding a collision with two unis, “Linden?!”

There was no answer.

Holder burst into the tech lab, “Ray!”

The police tech jumped at the sudden intrusion and whirled around with a confused look on his face, “Holder, what the hell...?”

He didn’t waste any time, “I need you trace Linden’s phone!”

“Wha- what’s going on?”

“Ray just,” Holder raised a hand and formed it into a fist his nails biting into his skin as he fought for control to stay calm, “just please. C’mon man.”

The look on Holder’s face must have conveyed a message, because Ray turned to his computer and began the search. The detective paced behind him, desperation clawing at his insides, occasionally putting the phone to his ear thinking he would hear his partner’s voice each time he re-dialed her number. But he kept getting her voicemail and hysteria was threatening to take over him.

“Got it,” said the tech. Holder peered over his shoulder as Ray pointed to the screen, “She’s off of 35th Avenue near Fauntleroy Park.”

Holder reached over to Ray’s desk phone and dialed out to dispatch, “This is Detective Holder badge number 4592 I need dispatch and medical to 9010 35th Avenue SW. My partner is down, I’m en route. Repeat, my partner is down and I need dispatch and medical to 9010 35th Avenue SW!”

He slammed the receiver down, “Thanks Ray.” Then Holder ran out of the room.

——

Holder slammed the brakes as he pulled up to the address on 35th Avenue, several patrol cars and an ambulance were also on site. His pains rose when he saw the EMT’s just standing around, and no one in the back of the ambulance. Thinking that could only mean there was a body that could only be removed by a coroner.

There was an alley that seemed to be the center of an abundance of police activity that he passed, as he looked at the unis and CSU’s his eye caught the blood on the ground. Quickly he changed direction to go down the alley only to have a hand slam into his pecs, “You can’t be here.”

Fighting the urge to push back, Holder unclipped his badge from his belt, “S.P.D. I called it in nimrod.”

The cop backed away looking sheepish, “Sorry detective.”

“Was there a woman here? Another detective I mean, I called about my partner.”

His eyes widened, “She was your partner?”

“Was?” Holder’s knees buckled.

The officer reached out for him thinking the detective was about to collapse, “No, no they took her to the hospital alright? Last I heard she was breathing.”

Holder caught his breath feeling sick. He turned away from the uni for a moment in an attempt to collect himself before he faced him again, “Where is she?”

“Lemme check, just a sec okay?” Holder nodded and the cop went to speak with someone in the alley, but he didn’t who who. He couldn’t bring himself to care. His eyes were glued to the puddle of blood, the yellow marker placed next to it by an investigator, and next to the blood was a phone. Holder already knew but still couldn’t deny himself the small hope that it wasn’t hers, he pulled out his own phone and dialed her number. The phone on the ground buzzed and lit up, Holder face contorted in agony.

The uni came back over, “Detective? They brought her to Harbor View.”

Holder nodded, “Thanks.”

He ran back to the car and ran the siren.

——

The knife wielder sat in a car in an undisclosed location. They popped open their glove compartment and took out a cloth to wipe off the blood. With a gasp of pain they looked down and saw they had cut themselves.

——

Holder had spoken to a nurse and found out Sarah was in surgery. The hospital had known to who she was because of her badge—not to mention the Glock on her hip—and they had already gone through the appropriate channels of letting the department know what had happened and where she was.

What they didn’t have was a next of kin listed.

“Why’d you need that?” asked Holder a hint of panic in his voice. “She’s alive ain't she?”

The nurse had told the detective ten times that his partner was alive, it was a miracle she wasn’t frustrated beyond belief. She smiled kindly, “Yes of course, but it is general practice to notify the next of kin when someone is in the hospital.”

Holder shook his head, “She has a son but he isn’t 18.”

“There’s no one else?”

He shrugged and noticed his hands were shaking, “She grew up in foster care. I’ll call her son, I’m fairly close with the kid, he’s with his dad.”

The nurse stepped a few feet away to write on her clipboard and Holder sat down in a stiff cushioned chair and pulled out his cell phone as he angled away from the nurse and tried to dial Jack Linden. But the kid didn’t answer. After a moment’s pause he dialed the tech lab at the station.

“ _Tech Lab this is Ray._ ”

“Yo Ray its Holder, I... I need a phone number for a Greg Linden in Chicago.”

Ray worked fast and without question, and soon Holder was dialing again.

“ _Hello?_ ”

Holder swallowed, he’d only met Greg on one other occasion and it had only been in passing. He’d never even spoken to him.“Hey yeah, um, is this Greg Linden?”

“ _It is, may I ask who’s calling?_ ”

Holder cleared his throat and reached back to run the back of his head. “Yeah my name is Holder, Stephen Holder. I’m a detective with Seattle P.D. I work with Linden, uh Sarah.”

Something in his voice must have given it away. Greg paused for a moment and when he spoke next it was in a very calm voice, “ _Is she alive?_ ”

The detective took a shaky breath, “I need to talk to Jack, I tried his cell and couldn’t reach him.”

“ _Whatever you have to say to my son you can say to me._ ”

“Look it ain’t nothin’ personal aight?” Holder shifted his feet, “Jack’s her next of kin and I got protocols to follow aight?”

There was a long period of silence on the other line and Holder wondered for a moment if the man had hung up then he heard a soft clattering which meant the phone was being passed over, “ _Hello?_ ”

It was Jack. “Hey little man, it’s Holder.”

“ _Holder? Why are you calling my dad?_ ”

“Couldn’t reach ya my man, called you a bunch and ya didn’t answer.”

“ _Oh yeah my phone is charging.” Jack chuckled, “What’s up?_ ”

“Listen kid... first thing I’m gonna say is everything is gonna be okay, aight? But I gotta let you know cause of legal reasons and what not.”

“ _Okay?_ ”

Holder cleared his throat, his leg began to bounce up and down, “I’m calling cause somethin’s happened, to your moms.”

“ _What?_ ” Jack sounded confused as though he wasn’t completely sure what Holder meant.

“She’s alive, but she got hurt real bad and she’s in the hospital.”

There was no doubt that Jack now knew why Holder was calling. He sounded frantic, “ _What happened?!_ ”

Holder shook his head trying to hold himself together. He stood up and paced around the waiting room, “She was attacked, stabbed. But listen, it’s like I said she’s alive and she’s gonna be okay.”

There was frantic short breaths on the other line. The Jack said, “ _I wanna see her, can I see her?_ ”

“That’s up to your pops little man. I can’t make that call.”

A loud clattering sound from the speaker made Holder jerk the phone away from himself. After a moment he pressed it back to his ear, “Lil’ man? Jack? Jack!”

“ _It’s me,_ ” came Greg’s voice. “ _He dropped the phone and ran up to his room._ ”

Holder groaned and ran his hand over his face, “Shit...” he collapsed into another chair.

“ _Is Sarah alive?_ ”

The detective nodded and slowly dropped his hand, “Yeah, she’s alive. She’s gonna be okay. But she got hurt real bad is all.”

“ _What happened to her?_ ” Greg actually sounded as though he was in distress.

“She was attacked, someone stabbed her. Doc says it was real close.”

The implication was clear. Greg blew out a breath, “ _Alright. Is there anything else?_ ”

“Nah, that’s it. If you need to get in touch or whatevs Jack has my number. Jus’ give me a call or text. Linden don’t have her phone, when she’s able I’ll have her give Jack a call.”

“ _...Right, thanks._ ” The man hung up.

Holder’s hand holding the phone dropped to his side, and he leaned back in the chair tilting his head back until it hit the wall. He felt ill, thinking about Sarah and what had happened. Thinking about the case. If she hadn’t been thrown off of it this wouldn’t have happened, but of course she had gone off on her own to investigate. He had no doubt that’s exactly what she had been doing, she went out with her badge and gun so it was too hard to put together. Holder felt as though he had failed her, they were partners and he should have done a better job of backing her up. Or if not... fuck he shoulda done something. Anything.

——

Vani and Leah walked back to the parking lot as the sun set. They hugged each other goodbye and got into their respective vehicles. Vani watched Leah drive off and sat in the car thinking.

——

A very pale Sarah Linden laid in a hospital bed. Next to her, Holder sat in a chair dozing.


	9. Day 7

1 Year Ago...

_Sarah unclipped her badge from her belt and placed it into the bin that the prison guard was holding out. The bin already held her keys, phone, and wallet. Then she reached for the Glock on her hip, dischambered it and removed the clip before placing it in the bin as well._

_“Your shoes,” the guard nodded down to her feet._

_Sarah reached down and unlaced her boots and removed them putting her socked feet on the cold floor, then placed the boots in the bin. The guard gestured for her to move forward and she walked through the metal detector which she cleared, and the guard waved over her body with a metal detector wand._

_The guard gave a nod of approval, “You’re good to go.”_

_Sarah recouped her badge to her belt, and took her phone before lacing up her shoes, her Glock would stay with security until she left._

_“Follow me.”_

_Sarah followed the guard through a series of cell gates that would only open when the guard called for them. The sound of a loud buzzer would then follow and the cell gates would clang loud as they shut. Finally they came to a door with a small glass window with block letters that read: Visitor’s Room. Sarah made her way inside and looked at the booths against the left wall, inside each of them was a seat, a telephone on the wall, and a glass shield. On the other side of the glass was another booth but different. These booths were surrounded by prison bars in addition to a seat and telephone._

_Detective Linden went to a booth halfway down the row and took a seat before taking the phone off of the wall and putting it to her ear. She didn’t have to wait long, a loud buzzer indicated a door, and she watched as two guards escorted Ray Seward inside the room on the other side of the glass. They walked him to the cage opposite of Linden and opened the door before closing it once Seward was inside. Seward kept his hands behind him as the guards unlocked the restraints around his hands using the rectangular small opening in the cell door, once he was free he moved forward and sat down._

_Seward looked at her for a moment expressionless then took the phone off of the wall and pressed it to his ear. “I invited you to the execution,” he spoke with just a hint of surprise. “You’re early.”_

_Sarah didn’t show a physical reaction, “I wanted to speak with you.”_

_“Oh really?” He sounded mildly amused and rested both of his elbows on the short counter beneath the phone, and rested his chin on his hand. “What about?”_

_“Your lawyer,” she said matter of factly, “he’s sought after several deals with the courts but you haven’t taken any of them.”_

_Seward’s face grew dark, he sat up straight. “Why do you care? You think I’m a monster, I deserve the comeuppance coming my way.”_

_“I don’t think you’re a monster.” Sarah said it before she could stop herself._

_“That’s not what you said during my trial.” When she didn’t reply, his eyes narrowed and he studied her face. "You don’t think I did it,” he said quietly. “You don’t think I killed my wife.”_

_Detective Linden took a small breath and gave a small shake of her head, “It doesn’t matter what I think.”_

_“You and I both know that that’s not true,” Seward said in a dangerous tone. “I’m in here because of your testimony.” When Sarah didn’t reply Seward pressed onward leaning forward slightly, a sneer on his face. “So you’re here to what... right your wrong? Get me out? Because I gotta tell ya detective, you have pretty shit timing seeing as how I’m supposed to hang in a month.”_

_“I’m here for Adrian.” Seward seemed to be nonplussed by her statement if his silence and expression was anything to go by. She leaned forward and continued, “Your son... Adrian. He deserves to know his father. But he can’t do that if you’re dead.”_

_He huffed, “Can’t do that if I’m behind bars either.”_

_“Your lawyer may be able to get you life, and if you have good behavior there could be a chance of parole.” Seward had started to laugh. It was unsettling, but also infuriating. She scowled, “I’m trying to help you—”_

_“Please, you’re only trying to help yourself,” he snapped. “Clear your conscious, because you put an innocent man behind bars and didn’t do anything about it.”_

_“You don’t know anything about me,” Sarah growled. The two of them glared at each other. She tensed her jaw and looked straight into his eyes, “I have fought for you.”_

_“Is that right?” He clearly didn’t believe her._

_Linden didn’t want to get into this, she didn’t want to share this information. “I almost lost everything trying to fight for you.” He didn’t say anything._

_Seemingly frustrated at a lack of an explanation Seward lifted a hand, “What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_Sarah sat back and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about this, she wasn’t going to go down that road. “I shouldn’t have come.” She hung up the phone and stood up before turning away suddenly hearing Seward bang on the glass behind her. She took a small breath, and turned back piercing him with a soft glare as he motioned for her to pick up the phone again. Sarah took a moment before she sat back down and picked up the phone slowly putting it to her ear._

_“Please...” said Seward, for the first time dropping the rebellious prisoner front and sounding desperate. “If you know something that will help me, please.”_

_Linden gave him a blank look then gave a slight jerk of her head, “I can’t.”_

_“Why the fuck not?!” He yelled looking close to tears. “Why would you come here and give me hope?”_

_Her jaw tensed and she pursed her lips. She wanted nothing more than to pull her eyes away from his... but that would be cowardly. “I lost myself and everything I love the last time I tried...” she said quietly. “I can’t do that again.” Seward looked at her, devastated with tears in his eyes. Sarah swallowed her throat unbelievably dry, “Take the deal with your lawyer.”_

_Seward’s jaw was locked tight and he didn’t say anything. Sarah took that as her due and went to stand when he spoke again, “You should still come to the execution. It’s the least you could do.” Then he slammed the phone on the receiver and called for the guard._

——

October 19, 2014  
Day 7

Sarah became aware that she was lying on her back and felt a dull throbbing near her leg. There was something in her nose that was making it feel cold. When she tried to shift herself, the dull throb became a sharp shooting pain. She tried to sit up and cried out though it sounded more like a croak. Reaching up she pulled out a tube from her nose and her hands clasped her groin as though cradling the body part would make the pain go away.

“Linden stop!”

Hands fell on hers and gently pushed her further into the bed. She tried to push back, wanting the discomfort to go away, she opened her eyes but her vision was blurry and her resistance became stronger.

“Sarah!”

Focusing on the direction of where the voice came from, she turned her head and saw the blurred outline of a familiar face slowly becoming clear. “...Holder?”

Holder blew out a breath and spoke less panicky, “Jus’ chill Linden, aight? Lay back down, you’re gonna rip your stitches.” Her eyes stayed fixed on his as he gently helped lower her back to the bed. When he seemed convinced she wasn’t about to bolt, he let go of her hands and took a few steps back. “Imma call the nurse to let ‘em know you’re awake, just hang tight.”

Sarah watched him leave the room and pulled up the blanket on her hips and looked down at herself, but the hospital gown covered the top of her leg where the pain was coming from.

“Hello,” Sarah’s head jerked up and saw Holder standing by her bedside with a kind looking nurse, “how is your pain doing Ms. Linden?”

“Uh,” her voice sounded croaky, “it hurts.”

The nurse nodded, “You got out of surgery a few hours ago so that’s not surprising. I’ll go ahead and increase your dosage and the doctor will be by to check on you later.” She stepped up to the machinery by the bed and fiddled with it before turning back her patient, “Stay lying back, we don’t want you to rip your stitches and do any more damage. And I need you to keep that tube in your nose it’s helping with your oxygen, your body has been through a trauma and could use all the help it can get. Keep it in.” She turned to Holder, “You can call me with this button.” She pointed to a remote attached to the bed, then walked out of the room.

Sarah, who had already been feeling rather loopy, felt her mind buzz. Holder sat down next to her and leaned forward on his elbows. “You scared the fuck outta me.”

“What...” she was confused but didn’t really know why. The memory of the visit with Ray Seward was fresh in her mind. “Sorry.”

Holder narrowed his eyes, it wasn’t like Linden to apologize. Then he remembered the strong meds she was on. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Linden didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Holder handed her the tube and she took it from him and examined it before putting it back in her nose. When she eventually spoke again it was quieter then he had ever heard her speak before. “I saw Ray Seward again.”

His brow furrowed, and he leaned in closer to her. “What’s that?”

“Picasso.”

An uncomfortable feeling formed in his gut. She was high on pain meds and Holder bet money that she didn’t want him to know whatever it was she was about to say. “You don’t gotta...”

“Adrian... that was the boys name. The one who drew the picture?” She wasn’t looking at him, her eyes were fixed at a spot on the wall straight ahead. She spoke without hestitation, an occasional slur making its way into her speech. “My partner had Adrian’s dad, Ray Seward pegged for the mother’s murder, but it didn’t make sense. That picture... those woods... they meant something. Why else would Adrian have drawn them? And Seward he, he lived in the apartment but witnesses saw him climbing out of the window. Walking out the front door would have been less suspicious so why would he do that unless he... was innocent?

“They didn’t believe me though. No one did. My partner was convinced I was wrong and his higher rank precedence. But Seward... he couldn’t have done it. I did everything I could to try to find the truth. Investigating non-stop, just going and going. I stopped eating, I stopped sleeping... I lost myself. Jack found me, in a fit of sorts, he was so scared. I scared him, my son. Jack called Regi, and she brought me to the hospital. I was there for a month. The only way I was going to leave was if I admitted I was wrong, and Seward had been the doer. If I let it all go. So I did, I let it go. And I got my son back.

“Seward had been sentenced to death, and the date of execution was expedited. Last year, I received an invitation to the execution, Seward wanted me there. Seeing that piece of paper, knowing his life was going to end... it made me think of how sure I was of his innocence. I went to see him at the prison, told him to take a deal with the court so Adrian could still have a father. He knew I knew he was innocent and asked me to do something to help him. But I told him no. He refused to take any deal, and asked me to go to the execution. Said I owed him that much.

“So I did. I watched Seward climb onto the gallows... and just before the put the bag over his head he looked out and saw me, and he smiled. I think he was relieved that at least one person knew that wasn’t guilty.

“His neck didn’t break when he fell. I watched his body writhe as he gasped for air for six minutes before he finally died. An innocent man... and I did nothing to help him in the end. And Adrian... god Adrian... an orphan.”

Holder didn’t know what to say, or even if he should say anything. He was saved from any decision as. he looked back over at Linden and saw that she had fallen asleep.

——

Vani walked up the cement stairs to the small patio and subsequent blue front door of the house holding a file box underneath her arm. When she reached the door she knocked before putting her arm back under the box so it wouldn’t slip out of her grip. Footsteps inside the house gradually grew louder and the door opened to reveal Leah Burton.

“Vani? What are you doing here?”

“These are case files from your husband’s office,” Vani explained lifting the box. “I thought, maybe... there might be a clue or something inside. If we found something we could tell the police.”

Leah looked at the box with wide eyes, “I thought the police took his files?”

Vani blushed and ducked her head down slightly, “I made copies...” When Leah didn’t respond embarrassment began to overtake the paralegal, “If you don’t want to—”

“No!” Leah shook her head rapidly and stepped back making room for the other woman. “No please, come inside.”

——

The pain wasn’t as badnext time Sarah woke up the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before. She swallowed a dry throat and let out a soft moan which alerted Holder to her consciousness.

“How you feelin’?”

She huffed, “Like I got stabbed in the groin.”

A small grin spread across his face, but disappeared just as soon as it had come. “You already woke up once, you remember?”

Sarah thought for a moment but shook her head. “No I don’t.”

Holder bobbed his head and didn’t press the question further. “You see who attacked you?”

Sarah moved her head from side to side, “I didn’t.”

He tried to hide his disappointment as he nodded solemnly. “Alright.”

The conversation was stiff and awkward. Holder owned it up to the pain meds not to mention the actual pain. Still he had hoped she might be in a different mindset.

Linden sighed and tried to move around a little wincing when she did so, “When can I get out of here?”

“Tell me you’re joking,” Holder looked incredulous. “Your joking right?” When she didn’t reply he fought the urge to throw his head back. “Linden you were stabbed. A knife was pierced through your body—”

She narrowed her eyes and tried to speak over him, “I know I was stabbed—”

“—almost perforated your femoral artery and ya nearly bled out in a fuckin’ alleyway! You’re not goin’ anywhere!” The pair of them glared at each other. Eventually Sarah looked away and Holder shook his head at her stubbornness, truly exasperated. “You almost died.”

Sarah pressed her lips tightly together, “I know.”

There was a long pause before Holder spoke again, “I called Greg.”

“What?” Her eyes snapped to his, alarmed. “Why?”

His head bobbed, “Hospital needed next of kin and Jack wasn’t picking up his phone.”

“Oh god,” she put a hand to her head.

“...I’m sorry.”

Sarah put her hand down and glanced over at Holder, “It’s alright. I, uh, thank-you for letting Jack know.”

“You wanna call him?”

“Yeah,” she sniffed, “yeah is my phone here?”

“CSU has it.” Holder reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

She reached out her hand and he placed the phone in her palm, then she dialed the number before putting the phone to her ear. Butterflies flew in her stomach, wondering what state Jack was in.

“ _Holder?_ ” Jack sounded anxious, like he’d been waiting for this phone call.

“Hi Jack, it’s me.”

“ _Mom! Oh my god mom, are you okay?!_ ”

Sarah’s chest rose slowly with the breath she took, “I will be baby. Just right now it’s...” she cleared her throat and bit back a groan as she tried to shift in the bed, “it’s a bit hard.”

“ _I want to see you, I want to see you please. Please mom I, I need..._ ”

She didn’t want him to see her like this, bed bound and weak. She shook her head, “You don’t need to Jack, okay? I’m alright I promise.”

“ _I don’t care,_ ” Jack said firmly. “ _I need to see you. I asked dad yesterday and he said he’d think about it, talk to him please. He’s right here okay?_ ”

“No, Jack wait—” but she could hear the phone being handed over and a muffled conversation taking place between Greg and Jack. This time she did groan and pressed the palm of her hand into her eye. The pain of the wound was increasing, steadily making itself more prominent.

“ _Hello? Sarah?_ ”

“Hi Greg,” she sighed putting her hand down. “Look, I know he asked you to see me...”

“ _He’s been a wreck Sarah,_ ” her ex-husband said plainly. “ _I didn’t want to put him on a plane until I knew for sure you were alright._ ”

Linden bit her lip, tears stinging her eyes hearing just how bad the past 24 hours had been for her son. She took in a shaky breath, purposely avoiding looking at Holder. “I’m okay. It um... what happened with Jack?”

She heard Greg sigh, “ _Holder called and told him what happened and Jack just lost it. Started packing a suitcase, hysterical, saying he needed to know that you were okay. Holder said that you were stabbed?_ ”

A tear rolled down her cheek, “Yeah I um, but I’m okay. I don’t think I’ll be up in my feet though anytime soon, it was a... bad wound.”

There was pause on the other end of the line, “ _Okay then. Jack and I will fly out tomorrow, or if I can manage it tonight._ ”

“Okay...” she was beginning to sound weepy and wanted to end the call. “Greg I have to go.”

“ _I’ll get the hospital information from Holder, get some rest._ ”

Sarah hung up the phone and quickly wiped away the tear that had rolled down her cheek. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Linden? You okay?”

Opening her eyes she looked at Holder and nodded, “Just hurts.” She held out his phone, “They’re flying in. Greg is going to ask you for the hospital information.”

Holder nodded and didn’t press further as he took his phone back. Then hesitantly he said, “I gotta go, yeah?” She nodded and Holder reached out hesitantly and placed his hand on hers, “We’re gonna get this guy.”

Then he stood up sand pulled on his jacket, “I have the room’s number, so I may call ya know just check in.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

The corner of his lip curled up, “Yeah I know but I mean, your my bff.” She managed a small smile which he reciprocated. Then he turned on his heel and he left the room.

Suddenly she remembered, “Holder wait! It’s Tucker, he—”

“You said you didn’t see who tried to gut you.”

“No listen, I went to Fauntleroy Park. I walked to Helen White’s old house, and there was a woman who was living there, she said she used to rent from Helen then when she died she got to keep the house. I asked her why she was renting and she said that Helen had moved in with her boyfriend.”

“So?”

“The woman said that the boyfriend was the guy who had been arrested for her murder.”

Letting the words sink in, Holder’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Holy shit... That ain’t no where in the case file—that they were in a relationship.”

“It can’t be a coincidence,” said Linden shaking her head stubbornly. “There’s no way.”

“And Tucker used to work at SOG.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, under an alias. That girl from the store recognized his picture. We have to bring him back in.”

“How are you going to manage that with Carlson?”

“Don’t worry Linden,” he gave her a small grin, “I got this.”

——

Déjà vu, Detective Stephen Holder was experiencing déjà vu. News of the attack on Detective Linden had spread throughout the precinct. Holder hadn’t been back since he had dashed out of the building yesterday after Linden’s phone call, but as he stepped over the threshold of S.P.D.’s front doors he could feel all eyes on him, and he knew that they knew what had happened. It was just like when Linden had gone after Tucker.

Holder ignored their stares and walked straight to the office, his throat constricting as he drew closer to the door. He remembered making the phone call yesterday, and hearing his partner’s strangled voice as she had been bleeding out in the alleyway. The memory made him feel sick. He walked inside the office and pulled off his jacket throwing it on the back of his chair. The file he had been reading the previous day was still out on the desk.

A sheet of paper on the top was from Mark Burton’s case papers, it was the information sheet of potential cases that clients had to fill out, and the case sheet belonged to Mitchell Tucker. At the top right hand corner was note written in red pen, the handwriting different then the rest of the paper. The note was: *SOG

That’s what had made Holder call Samantha yesterday, seeing the note that Mark Burton had written. As Holder stared at it, he thought Burton must have found out about Tucker’s connection to SOG and possibly the “Fred Willis” alias. And now Holder was armed with Linden’s information about Helen White and Tucker’s relationship.

“Holder?”

Holder looked up and saw Lieutenant Carlson standing in the doorway. Holder nodded, “Loo, just the man I wanted to see.” When Carlson didn’t respond Holder walked over to him holding the file. “Yesterday I found this in Mark Burton’s papers. Mitchell Tucker had a connection to SOG, so I called up the lady who worked there and she recognized Tucker’s photo but identified him as “Fred Willis”, I’d bet my bottom dollar that Burton found out about the alias and it got him killed.”

Carlson was giving Holder a peculiar look, “Please don’t tell me you’re going after the Tucker angle again.”

“Sir we have written proof of the evidence,” Holder jabbed a finger at the writing on the paper. “SOG is the brand of the murder weapon, Tucker worked there under an alias. And the woman living at Helen White’s old home identified Tucker as her boyfriend before her murder. That’s enough to bring him back in for questioning.”

“He was in prison at the time of the murder,” Carlson said matter of factly.

“There’s too much to ignore here,” Holder scowled.

Carlson hesitated, clearly he didn’t want to go down this road. He shook his head, “Fine. But you bring him in only if he agrees to come voluntarily. The D.A.’s office won’t charge him again, not unless he flat out confesses.” Holder turned away and grabbed his jacket to put it back on when Carlson spoke again, “How’s Linden?”

Holder froze mid-action, “She’s alive.”

The lieutenant nodded, “Well, I’m glad to hear that. This turn of events, it’s very unfortunate. The department still stands behind her.”

Holder bit his tongue; the department certainly hadn’t been behind her the other day. He just nodded. The awkward silence was enough to make Carlson feel uncomfortable, and he left the office. Holder had a beat to himself before he went out the door as well.

——

The address that Mitchell Tucker was listed at was in Ballard, only about a 20 minute drive from the station. Holder pulled his car in front of a row of townhouses, each unit was fenced in, and had a mossy cobbled yard as well as a cement path leading to a white front door. Each unit was two stories tall and had the same gray siding with cream white shingles.

Holder climbed out of the car and looked closely as he approached the unit on the far right. The moss between the cobbled ground was just slightly more overgrown than those of the other units. The trash bin had been careless tossed onto the ground though it appeared to be empty. All in all the place didn’t have a lot of appeal. He walked up the path to the door and rang the bell.

It didn’t take long for someone to answer. The door opened and there stood Mitchell Tucker. If he was surprised to see the detective, he didn’t let it show. A small smile spread across the man’s face, “Detective such a pleasant surprise.”

“Mr. Tucker,” Holder dipped his head in acknowledgement, “I was hoping I could ask you to come Downtown with me.”

Tucker crossed his arms, but the look on his face didn’t change. “Why’s that?”

“There’s been a development in our case, and we’d just like to ask ya a few more questions is all.”

The man thought for a moment and then opened his mouth to reply but at the same time a voice called from somewhere inside the house, “Who is it Mitch?”

“Police babe,” Tucker said his eyes never leaving the detective’s. “No big deal, they just want me to go in for questioning.”

“What?!” There were hurried footsteps and then the door opened wider revealing a woman behind the man. She glared daggers at Holder, “What the fuck for?”

“Ain’t no big deal,” Holder addressed the woman trying to sound casual, “some things have just come up and we need to clarify things.” Then as afterthought, “What your name?”

The woman kept her glare on Holder, her eyes even narrowed more before she spoke. “Caitlin Gardner.”


	10. Day 7 (continued)

There were papers strewn about the living room: on the floor, on the furniture, and the coffee table. Leah was sitting in the armchair flipping through a file. Vani was on the floor sitting cross legged doing the same with a file of her own to examine. They’d been at it for a few hours now, going over each case file looking for something, anything, that might lead them to a clue about what had happened to Mark.

“Hang on, look at this.” Leah stood up and kneeled by Vani’s side holding out the file for her to see, “This case... a man stabbed a lawyer in Fauntleroy park but insisted that he was innocent.”

“I remember this!” Vani exclaimed looking up at Leah, “Mr. Burton considered taking the case, but one day I came into work he said that he had changed his mind. But he wouldn’t say why.”

“Do you think it could have anything to do with what happened to him?”

Vani shrugged, “I mean it’s possible, right?” Leah looked back at the paper and thought for a moment. Then she abruptly closed the file and stood up. Vani looked stricken, “Where are you going?”

“To the police,” said Leah as she pulled on her jacket. “Even if there’s just a small chance...”

“Well I’m coming with you.” Vani stood up as well and went to get her jacket.

——

Sarah had been dozing when the phone next to her bed rang. At first she couldn’t be sure where the ringing was coming from, the pain meds were muddling her brain more then she liked to admit. When the ringing persisted she looked around until her eyes landed on the bed rail and found the phone. She picked it up, and pressed the answer button before she put it to her ear, “Hello?”

“ _Scared me for a second Linden, not answering the phone like that. You asleep or somethin’?_ ”

“I was.”

Holder chuckled, “ _My bad. I just wanted to let you know that I’m takin’ Tucker in for questioning._ ”

She tried to sit up and cried out gripping the top of her leg. With a grunt she took a deep breath, “Carlson went for it?”

“ _Yeah... I convinced him,_ ” Holder said hesitantly. “ _You good over there?_ ”

“Yeah I’m fine, are you going back to the station now?”

“ _Sure am. I’ll let you know what happens. Take it easy over there aight?_ ”

Sarah nodded, “Yeah alright.” She hung up the phone and put it down on her lap her heart racing.

——

Standing with his arms crossed in the observation room Holder looked through the two-way mirror, watching Mitchell Tucker sitting in the interrogation room with Caitlin, the girlfriend, who had insisted on accompanying Tucker to the station. Both of them sat silently, Holder assumed it was because they knew they could be overheard if they tried to talk.

His cell phone buzzed in his jacket pocket, without looking away from the glass he took out the phone and put it to his ear, “Yeah Holder.”

“ _Hey it’s me._ ”

“‘Sup little man?” Holder turned away from the glass with a small smile on his face.

“ _Dad and I just landed at the airport, we’re gonna go to the hospital so I needed to know which one mom’s at and her room number and stuff._ ”

“Don’t waste no time do ya?” Jack chuckled lightly at the joke but Holder could tell the kid was anxious. “I’ll text ya the deets, aight? Might drop by myself later if I can, it’s be good to see you.”

“ _Thanks Holder._ ”

“Take it easy on your moms.”

“ _Okay, bye._ ”

Holder ended the call and texted the hospital information. He glanced back up at the couple in the room, and made his way out of observation.

Holder opened the door to the interrogation room case file in hand, both occupants looked up at him with neutral expressions. He walked to the other side of the table and sat down across from the couple, “Just a few questions. We’ll get ya outta here real fast aight?”

Neither Tucker or Caitlin spoke or even acknowledged him. So Holder opened the folder and took out a picture of Helen White, “I assume you know who this is?” Still no reaction. Holder went back to the folder and pulled out a picture of Mark Burton, “How ‘bout him?”

“What’s the point of this detective?” Caitlin asked venomously. “Mitchell had been cleared of all charges.”

“You’re right,” said Holder with a small grin. “He has hasn’t he?” He reached into the folder and pulled out another picture. It was of Linden.

It was minuscule, but Holder had been watching their faces closely so he saw Tucker’s eyebrows contracted just the slightest bit. Caitlin jumped to her feet, “We don’t have to stand for this. C’mon Mitch.” She went to the door and threw it open before walking out.

“Leaving so soon? We were only gettin’ started!” Holder called after her. He turned to look at Tucker who looked back at the detective with a blank look.

——

Leah Burton blew into S.P.D. with a determination unlike any other, Vani was right behind her. They approached the front desk, the officer behind the glass gave them both a bleary eyed look, “Can I help you?”

“I need to speak with Detective Linden,” Leah said urgently, pink tingeing her cheeks. “It’s very important.” The officer opened his mouth but stopped himself from speaking. Both of the women looked confused and exchanged glances with one another. “Did you hear me?”

The cop cleared his throat, “Detective Linden is uh... indisposed.”

Leah blew out a breath of frustration, “Well what about her partner? Detective um... Holden? Holder! Detective Holder?”

He looked at her for a beat before pulling the phone off of the cradle and dialing. Vani wandered away and looked around the station lobby. As she passed the main hallway she turned her head and stopped in her tracks, “Caitlin?”

The black haired woman who had been walking towards the lobby froze, and slowly looked up to face Vani. She pulled a delayed smile, “Vani! What are you doing here?”

Detective Holder walked out of interrogation, saw the exchange and stepped forward right behind Caitlin to address both women, “You two know each other?”

Caitlin hesitated allowing Vani to answer, “Yeah of course! Caitlin came by the office the day after Mr. Burton died. She helped out with some different things in packing up files, and well other things.” Vani blushed. “She came with me to the funeral.”

Holder looked down at Caitlin, “Is that right?” The woman didn’t respond.

Vani, completely oblivious, continued speaking to the other woman. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh it’s nothing...” Caitlin shook her head.

“As c’mon now,” said Holder his heart thumping hard, “you can be honest. Your boyfriend just got murder charges dismissed against him, ain’t that information you want to share?” He looked up at Vani and Leah, “But we did have to bring him back in for questioning. What with the new murder and attack against a cop.”

“Your boyfriend...?” Vani said with a quizzical look on her face. “I don’t even know what case Mr. Burton was working for you. I... never asked.”

Caitlin’s lips were pressed hard together, just as Tucker came around the corner of the interrogation room and walked down the hall.

“Stabbing case,” said Holder matter of factly. “Mr. Burton’s murder, the method of attack was similar to another case from a year ago.”

“The lawyer...” Leah spoke softly, her eyes traveled to Tucker whose face remained neutral.

Caitlin raised a shaky hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. That’s when Holder saw the bandage on her thumb. His bravado dropped, and he became serious at once. “Miss Gardner... what happened to you thumb?”

She froze and opened her mouth but no words came out. Slowly, Holder’s hand went to his Glock, he wrapped his fingers around the grip and pulled it out of his belt. The tension had increased ten-fold, Holder worked to keep his breathing even. Vani didn’t seem to understand, and looked from the detective to Caitlin. “What’s going on?”

“Back away Miss Mohan,” Holder said with a growl in his voice. When Vani didn’t move Leah clutched her arm and dragged her back.

Instantaneously, Tucker jumped forward and wrapped an arm around Caitlin’s neck pressing her body against his and put a knife to her throat. Holder aimed his Glock at the pair of them, “Put it down Tucker!”

“I told you not to go after the cop,” Tucker hissed in Caitlin’s ear. “But you didn’t listen to me! You stupid bitch!”

“Mitch,” Unshed tears shone in Caitlin’s eyes, her hands clawed at Tucker’s arm trying to loosen his grip. “Mitch please! I did it for you!”

“You should have listened!” His mouth was up against her ear, his breath blowing wisps of her hair causing her to shiver.

“Don’t do this Tucker...” Holder inched forward his eyes glued to Tucker’s, “don’t make this any worse then it is.”

“She killed Burton!” Tucker cried, the knife cutting into Caitlin’s skin. Holder her Leah sob behind him, but didn’t focus on it instead keeping his focus on the situation at hand. “She did it!”

“You told me to!” Caitlin screamed, their alliance had evidently dissolved. “You told me how!”

“Lies!” Tucker screamed. He ramped up his arm getting ready to strike—

BANG! BANG!

A loud scream, followed by a cry then Tucker and Caitlin collapsed to the ground. Holder didn’t lower his smoking gun as he inched closer to the fallen couple. Caitlin was crying and Tucker wasn’t moving. Once he approached the couple, Holder reached down and pulled Caitlin to her feet. The gun shots had alerted everyone in the vicinity, and a uni stepped forward to help apprehend her. Holder gave a nod of thanks and turned back to Tucker and a small puddle of blood forming under his body.

The detective bent down and reached out to Tucker’s neck with two fingers to check for a pulse. Just as Holder’s fingers came into contact with Tucker‘s flesh, he sprang to life and swung out with his arm slicing Holder’s wrist and hand sending his Glock flying across the floor. The detective cried out and clutched his arm as blood poured out of the wound. Before Holder could do anything Tucker pounced on top of him his own blood falling onto the detective from the bullet wound to his shoulder. Tucker’s face was red and manic, he raised the knife ready to strike down into Holder’s chest.

BANG!

Tucker flew off of Holder, unmoving once more. The surrounding officers took no chances and immediately converged onto the knife wielder to subdue him. Holder looked around and saw his savior: Lieutenant Carlson’s aim was unwavering, his gun still smoking.

——

Detective Holder walked into the interrogation room with his wrist and hand wrapped in a bloody towel, a recorder in the other hand, and a clipboard tucked under his arm. Caitlin Gardner sat at the table in the middle of the room, her hands cuffed to the ring under the surface. She didn’t look up as Holder made his way inside, or even as he sat across from her and dropped the clipboard none-too-gently as it clattered into the metal table. He pressed the recorder, “Detective Stephen Holder, interview commencing on October 19, 2014 at 5:14 p.m. with suspect Caitlin Gardner.” He looked over at Caitlin whose head was still looking down, “All yours girl.”

Caitlin took a big shaky breath, “I met Mitch 2-years-ago and fell in love. He felt the same way about me, but he was dating this lawyer named Helen. We came up with a plan to get rid of her... and he killed her. We thought he’d be in the clear but they arrested and charged him. I went to Mark Burton so he would appeal Mitch’s case, and he was going to take it. But then he stopped answering my calls and I knew something had gone wrong.

“Burton had found out that Mitch had worked at the knife company under an alias, they wouldn’t have let him work there with the assault charge but he loved knives so much... I helped him get it, the fake alias I mean. But Burton found out, and I figured he would go to the police. I told Mitch and he said he had a new plan, that if I loved him I would do it without any question. He told me how he killed Helen, he told me where the knife was, and how to execute the stab correctly. So I killed Burton to get suspicion off of Mitch.

“I went back to the law offices to destroy the files, but found that Vani girl instead. Then I thought if I befriended her some way I could convince her to give me the files, I could risk them being seen by the wrong people. I never got them though. It was a wasted effort. Then that detective... she wouldn’t leave it alone. Even after the charges had been dropped against Mitch she still suspected him. I kept my eye on her, and Mitch told me to leave it alone but how could I? I didn’t want to lose him. When she went to the house it was the last straw, I waited for her in the alley and stepped out to stab her the way Mitch taught me to with Burton. I had hoped it would just look like the previous killings but I must have messed it up somehow... she didn’t bleed out the way she was supposed to.” Caitlin looked up with tears in her eyes, “I love him. I still love him.”

Holder didn’t move or say anything for a moment. Then, slowly he reached out and stopped the recording. He pushed the clipboard across the table along with a pen, “Write down your statement. After that someone will escort you to booking.”

——

Vani Mohan and Leah Burton sat in the conference room at the precinct. Feeling numb Vani had spent time time looking at her surroundings from her resting spot on the love seat that was against the wall. Her eyes fell on Leah who was sitting at the table with a distant glazed look in her eye.

Leah had been hesitant to speak to her once she learned that Vani had befriended Mark’s killer, albeit unknowingly. And Leah hadn’t tried to speak to Vani, so she figured that’s how Leah would want it. The police had asked them to wait in the room after the shooting. They had given them both heavy blankets to wrap around their shoulders, Vani had discarded hers but Leah clutched the fabric tightly around herself.

There was the sound of a pair of footsteps that grew closer, Vani looked up to see the detective from earlier, the one who had shot Caitlin and the other man. His hand was wrapped in a bloody towel, and he looked beyond exhausted with dark circles under his eyes. But when he walked into the room, a kind expression came over his face. “Hey, I just wanted to check in with ya before I bounced.”

Leah didn’t move to look at him, but Vani had a peculiar expression on her face, “Shouldn’t you take care of that?” She gestured to his hand.

The detective looked down at his hand then back and shrugged with a smile waving his hand, “What this ole thing? Nah, s’all good.”

Vani gave him a doubtful look but didn’t pursue the matter further. Instead she looked away and said, “So Caitlin did it?”

The smile fell from the detective’s face he cleared his throat and took a seat at the table across from Leah facing Vani, “Yeah, she did.”

“She killed Mark?” Leah spoke for the first time.

“Her boyfriend did a murder a few years ago, looks like she copycat him to get him off for the crime.”

Tears welled in Leah’s eyes. Vani looked over at the widow, “I’m sorry.”

Leah shook her head, “Not your fault.”

“Holder!”

The three room occupants jumped and turned to the door. The cop who had shot the man from earlier glared at the detective, “Didn’t I order you to go to the hospital?”

The detective took a deep breath, “Yes boss.” He stood up and addressed the two women, “Someone’ll be in here shortly to get ya statements and then you can go home.” Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Vani turned to Leah, “I really am sorry.”

Leah looked at the other woman, “You couldn’t have known. It’s alright, really.” Vani looked away at the brochures, and Leah cleared her throat, “After we’re done here would you like to have dinner?”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Leah gave her a soft kind smile.

Vani nodded, “I’d love to.”

——

Sarah Linden groaned as she came back to consciousness, the wound above her leg was throbbing and she didn’t dare even try to shift in bed.

“Mom?”

Her eyes flew open, and she saw Jack’s face leaning over the bed with an anxious expression. Sarah licked her dry lips and swallowed to lubricate her dry throat, “Jack?”

A smile spread across her son’s face, “Hi mom.”

She let out a short huff as her lips pulled into a smile, she turned her head side to side, “Where’s your dad?”

“He had to take a work call but he should be back soon.”

Sarah nodded, her tongue darted out to wet her lips, “When’d you guys get here?”

“A few hours ago. Holder texted me that you were here and gave me the room number.”

The corner of her mouth quirked up, then fell as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pressed her lips hard together so as not to let the moan of pain escape. Not in front of Jack.

He wasn’t fooled though. “What’s wrong? Should I get someone?”

She opened her eyes and saw that Jack looked ready to bolt. Sarah shook her head, “I’m fine baby.”

Jack looked at her suspiciously and opened his mouth to respond when there was voice from the doorway,

“Hey there.” It was Greg, he was in the middle of putting his phone into his pocket and wore a semi-friendly smile on his face. “Am I interrupting?”

“No it’s fine,” said Sarah grateful for once in her life to see her ex. “How did you two get here so fast?”

“Found a last minute flight from O’Hare.”

Her eyebrows contracted in confusion, “We spoke this morning, h-how did you manage that?”

Greg nodded, “I booked the flight from home, we each packed a bag, drove to the airport, got on the flight, and when we landed we came straight here.”

She shook her head, “You didn’t have to do that...”

He shrugged, “It’s like I told you on the phone, Jack wanted to see you.”

“I needed to see you were okay,” Jack said from his seat beside the bed. “I needed to.”

Though her heart sank, Sarah gave a small smile, “I’m okay.”

“Sarah...” Greg said quietly drawing her attention. “The doctor told us what happened.” Her heart sank.

Then Jack added, “When we got here he was checking on you,” a small smile grew on his face, “he almost threw us out until I showed him my school I.D. to prove I was your son.”

“He said that a 7-inch blade pierced your groin, partially severing an artery and cutting up some muscle. Greg said with a grim expression. “They were able to repair the artery, but you almost bled out. He said you’ll be here for at least 10 days, and you’ll start physical therapy even sooner.”

Her eyes stung as tears threatened to fall. She cleared her throat and nodded, “Yeah.”

“Did they catch the guy who did it?” asked Jack.

“I don’t know, Holder’s still working the case...”

“Did I just hear my name?”

The three of them turned to look to the doorway and saw Detective Holder walking inside the room with a wide grin on his face. Addressing Jack he lifted his chin, “‘Sup little man?”

“Hey Holder,” Jack walked over to the detective and raised his hand to perform the special handshake the two always did with each other.

But Holder shook his head and his hands up, “Woah no, sorry not today,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m good for hugs though.” The two of them embraced briefly then separated. Holder nodded at Greg, but he was staring at Holder’s hand which was wrapped in gauze and medical tape.

“What happened?” Greg asked.

Holder realized he was talking about his hand, “What this? Pfft ain’t no thang. But I’d love to tell Linden the story, could I get a few minutes alone with her?”

Jack looked like he was about to object, but blessedly Greg put a hand on his shoulder “C’mon Jack let’s go grab a bite to eat.” Then the two of them walked out of the room.

Holder made his way to the other side of Sarah’s bed and took Jack’s empty seat. He blew out a breath and gave her a tired smile, “We got ‘em.”

“What?!” She exclaimed, a mixture of happiness and frustration filling her. “What happened? Who was it?”

“You were right about Tucker,” he began with nod, “he killed Helen White to be with his girlfriend that he fell for, name is Caitlin Gardner. She’s a real piece of work lemme tell you. Tucker also worked at SOG under an alias once upon a time, and Burton found out about it. Caitlin, figured Burton found out about Tucker’s connection to SOG and told Tucker, so Tucker told Caitlin to kill Burton. Taught her exactly what to do and where to find the knife from Helen’s murder. Then she went to Burton’s offices to try to get the files, not know in’ we already had ‘em obviously, but she befriended Mohan to get closer to them.

“After Burton got out he thought they was all done ya know, but Miss Caitlin bein’ the worry wart she was kept an eye on the investigation and knew that you still suspected him. She freaked when you went to Helen’s house and found out about Tucker’s past relationship, so she tried to kill you. But Tucker didn’t know it, she musta talked ‘bout doin’ it though ‘cause when I was talking to them I showed your picture along with Helen’s and Burton’s and he looked confused. Like your picture shouldn’t have been there. Caitlin stormed from the room and ran into Vani then from there it all fell apart.”

Sarah let out a short breath and looked away for a moment. “So that’s it...” Holder bobbed his head in agreement. Then Sarah looked back at him, “What happened to your hand then?”

“Oh yeah, little hostage situation turned ugly.” He looked at the bandaged hand, “Tucker was pissed at his lady for goin’ after you and blowin’ the whole thing. Carlson actually saved my life.” Her eyebrows rose and Holder nodded with an amused smile on his face, “Right? I mean I know it’s his job an’ all but damn I was not expecting that.” He crossed his arms and leaned back, “You doin’ alright?”

She didn’t answer immediately and looked down at her hands, “Doctor says I’ll need physical therapy before I can get out of here. He said I was lucky to be alive,” she shook her head. “He told Greg and Jack what happened, exactly what happened.”

“Damn...” Holder his head and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. “How’d they take it?”

Sarah shrugged, “I don’t know... the only other time Jack has freaked out the way he did the other day was the first timeI had to go to the hospital.”

When she didn’t elaborate further, Holder saw the discomfort in her face and made an attempt at levity “We’ll look at it this way Linden, things goin’ this way you could be the new RoboCop.”

She arched an eyebrow, “RoboCop?”

“Hell yeah! Then you’ll be even more badass then you are now!” The shit-eating grin on his face was enough to make her smile. Jack and Greg walked in just a few minutes later with some bags of food.

Holder stood up, “Imma head out then.

“Why don’t you stay?” asked Jack taking a burger out of the bag.

“Nah I’m gonna go little man I’m exhausted. You take care of ya moms though. I’ll drop by tomorrow.”

He saluted Jack and waved to Linden, then gave a small nod to Greg. He headed to the door and when he turned around he saw Jack smiling and talking with Linden.


End file.
